Sample records for technologies case studies

Based on the theory of task-technology fit and literature review of mobile technology acceptance, a research model is presented based on the features of mobile technologies and the actual usage of mobile applications in business environments, which identifies the characteristics of mobile applications and fitting tasks. An exploratory case is studied to understand how ABC Company, Hong Kong, utilizes mobile selling applications in their sales management process. This study gives some managerial suggestions for enterprises to successfully use mobile applications.

This paper focuses attention on tribology technology practice related to vacuum tribology. A casestudy describes an aspect of a real problem in sufficient detail for the engineer and scientist to understand the tribological situation and the failure. The nature of the problem is analyzed and the tribological properties are examined.

This chapter focuses attention on tribology technology practice related to vacuum tribology and space tribology. Two casestudies describe aspects of real problems in sufficient detail for the engineer and the scientist to understand the tribological situations and the failures. The nature of the problems is analyzed and the range of potential solutions is evaluated. Courses of action are recommended.

Enzymatic processes are generally sustainable processes that use mild conditions and natural substrates. Membrane technology can be employed for enzyme immobilization as well as for recycling free enzymes. Using alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) as part of a process to recycle CO2 to methanol, we...

Research advancements in cardiology instrumentation and techniques are summarized. Emphasis is placed upon the following techniques: (1) development of electrodes which show good skin compatibility and wearer comfort; (2) contourography - a real time display system for showing the results of EKGs; (3) detection of arteriosclerosis by digital computer processing of X-ray photos; (4) automated, noninvasive systems for blood pressure measurement; (5) ultrasonoscope - a noninvasive device for use in diagnosis of aortic, mitral, and tricuspid valve disease; and (6) rechargable cardiac pacemakers. The formation of a biomedical applications team which is an interdisciplinary team to bridge the gap between the developers and users of technology is described.

This article is a casestudy of an integrated, experiential approach to improving pre-service teachers' understanding and use of educational technologies in one New Zealand teacher education programme. The study examines the context, design and implementation of a learning activity which integrated student-centred approaches, experiential…

This multiple casestudy focused on whether and how cyberbullying had an impact on students' use of technology. Analysis of the lived experiences of the participants in this study added depth to the quantitative research previously conducted by others in this area. The conceptual framework was based on social learning theory, which suggested that…

This multiple casestudy focused on whether and how cyberbullying had an impact on students' use of technology. Analysis of the lived experiences of the participants in this study added depth to the quantitative research previously conducted by others in this area. The conceptual framework was based on social learning theory, which suggested that…

This article is a casestudy of an integrated, experiential approach to improving pre-service teachers' understanding and use of educational technologies in one New Zealand teacher education programme. The study examines the context, design and implementation of a learning activity which integrated student-centred approaches, experiential…

This casestudy explores the use of idle reduction technologies (IRTs) on emergency service vehicles in police, fire, and ambulance applications. Various commercially available IRT systems and approaches can decrease, or ultimately eliminate, engine idling. Fleets will thus save money on fuel, and will also decrease their criteria pollutant emissions, greenhouse gas emissions, and noise.

A casestudy of project-based learning (PBL) implemented in Tianjin University of Technology and Education is presented. This multidiscipline project is innovated to meet the novel requirements of industry while keeping its traditional effectiveness in driving students to apply knowledge to practice and problem-solving. The implementation of PBL…

A casestudy of project-based learning (PBL) implemented in Tianjin University of Technology and Education is presented. This multidiscipline project is innovated to meet the novel requirements of industry while keeping its traditional effectiveness in driving students to apply knowledge to practice and problem-solving. The implementation of PBL…

The crisis atmosphere surrounding electricity availability in California during the summer of 2001 produced two distinct phenomena in commercial energy consumption decision-making: desires to guarantee energy availability while blackouts were still widely anticipated, and desires to avoid or mitigate significant price increases when higher commercial electricity tariffs took effect. The climate of increased consideration of these factors seems to have led, in some cases, to greater willingness on the part of business decision-makers to consider highly innovative technologies. This paper examines three casestudies of innovative technology adoption: retrofit of time-and-temperature signs on an office building; installation of fuel cells to supply power, heating, and cooling to the same building; and installation of a gas-fired heat pump at a microbrewery. We examine the decision process that led to adoption of these technologies. In each case, specific constraints had made more conventional energy-efficient technologies inapplicable. We examine how these barriers to technology adoption developed over time, how the California energy decision-making climate combined with the characteristics of these innovative technologies to overcome the barriers, and what the implications of hurdling these barriers are for future energy decisions within the firms.

Full Text Available Adoption of new technologies is a process that involves technological learning and penetration of new products into the market. Within the process of new technologies adoption, government usually intervened by providing incentives, in order to support the technology adoption to be succeed. This paper examines the effectiveness of incentives for the sustainability of reverse osmosis (RO membrane technology adoption. The study conducted through single casestudy on SWRO installation in Mandangin Island, East Java, Indonesia. Results of casestudy indentify the existence of government incentive in the form of direct subsidies to decrease the price of clean water. Although successful in reducing the price of water, but effectiveness of the subsidy on the sustainability of SWRO is still low, which is operates only 30% in a year. Further analysis shows that these subsidies actually be counter-productive to the sustainability of SWRO installation.

This casestudy describes the efforts of librarians to integrate mobile devices, collaboration tools, and resources into a School of Medicine third-year pediatric clerkship. Additional class emphasis is on evidence-based searching and journal article evaluation and presentation. The class objectives ensure that students are comfortable with mobile devices and collaboration tools. Over the eight-year history of the course, student acceptance of the mobile devices used diminished as the devices aged, necessitating the evaluation and selection of new technologies. Collaboration tools and mobile applications employed in the course evolved to accommodate curriculum changes.

Knowledge management is paramount nowadays. In order to enable the members of an organization to deal with their current situations effectively it is mandatory to know and enhance its intellectual capital. Managing the organization knowledge is important to the extent that it allows and reinforce its mission (what we are trying to accomplish?), and performance (how do we deliver the results?). As a result of a knowledge management effort, the organization can create value for itself and for society as a whole. In this paper, we argue that a technology developed at a research institute and transferred to an industry is knowledge to be managed in order to create value, both for the society and for the Institute. In order to manage such knowledge, it is proposed an approach to enhance the value creation potential of a technology transfer. This paper propose an investigation to expand the understanding on how a public research institute and a private firm could introduce their value creation wishes into a technology transfer agreement in a way to reflect and provide the realization of those wishes. It is proposed that, from the identification of the organizations expectations it is possible to infer which agreement attributes will contribute to that value creation and to establish satisfactory agreement configurations. These configurations have the potential to generate those consequences, given that, through the transfer, each organization seeks to increase potential benefits and to reduce potential sacrifices. Supported by exchange flow and value creation models, by the knowledge management and the means-end theory, an approach to increase the value creation potential of a technology transfer is proposed. Evidences from a casestudy sustain the proposed approach. The casestudy unity is the Instituto de Engenharia Nuclear, a public research institute. (author)

Full Text Available The following paper is concerned with elucidating an account of forms of new localism as they relate to the concept of habitele, a conceptual framework that helps us understand new forms of relatedness in the digitally mediated world. In doing this it will also reflect back on the concept and draw out as yet unconsidered elements based upon issues of fluidity, mobility, and what we will call distal-locals. The paper is centred around two casestudies: the first is of a smart phone app, vouchercloud and details the way that the offering of money-off vouchers rests on particular notions of the local; while the second is of a environment organization who uses information technology to promote their activities. It is premised upon a history of work in the sociology of science and technologystudies (STS and in particular a set of conceptual and methodologicalresources that helps to reveal the complexities of notions such as the local.

The paper describes the integration of web resources and technology as instructional and learning tools in oral history projects. The computer-mediated oral history project centred around interviews with community elders combined with new technologies to engage students in authentic historical inquiry. The study examined learners' affective…

The paper describes the integration of web resources and technology as instructional and learning tools in oral history projects. The computer-mediated oral history project centred around interviews with community elders combined with new technologies to engage students in authentic historical inquiry. The study examined learners' affective…

All the health care facilities examined in the casestudies addressed several important organizational issues before and during the installation of their systems. All the facilities examined employee commitment. The prudent managers considered how easily their employees adapt to changes in their jobs and work environment. They considered how enthusiastic cooperation can be fostered in the creation of a liberated and reengineered office. This was determined not only by each individual's reaction to change, but also by the health care facility's track record with other system installations. For example, document image, diagnostic image, and coded data processing systems allow the integration of divergent health care information systems within complex institutions. Unfortunately, many institutions are currently struggling with how to create an information management architecture that will integrate their mature systems, such as their patient care and financial systems. Information managers must realize that if optical storage technology-based systems are used in a strategic and planned fashion, these systems can act as focal points for systems integration, not as promises to further confuse the issue. Another issue that needed attention in all the examples was the work environment. The managers considered how the work environment was going to affect the ability to integrate optical image and data systems into the institution. For example, many of these medical centers have created alliances with clinics, HMOs, and large corporate users of medical services. This created a demand for all or part of the health information outside the confines of the original institution. Since the work environment is composed of a handful of factors such as merged medical services, as many work environment factors as possible were addressed before application of the optical storage technology solution in the institutions. And finally, the third critical issue was the organization of work

In order for educators to prepare students for technology-enhanced learning educators must first be prepared. The digital divide and technology professional development are two factors impacting the depth at which technology is integrated into the classroom. The local problem addressed in this study was that the impact of technology professional…

...'. The paper is centred around two casestudies: the first is of a smart phone app, vouchercloud and details the way that the offering of money-off vouchers rests on particular notions of the local...

Assistive technology services are essential for adapting assistive devices to the individual needs of users with disabilities. In this study, we attempted to apply three-dimensional (3D) printing technology to three actual cases, and to study its use, effectiveness, and future applications. We assessed the usefulness of 3D printing technology by categorizing its utilization after reviewing the outcomes of these casestudies. In future work, we aim to gather additional casestudies and derive information on using 3D printing technology that will enable its effective application in the process of assistive technology services.

Fuel cells seem poised to emerge as a clean, efficient, and cost competitive source of fossil fuel based electric power and thermal energy. Sponsors of fuel cell technology development need to determine the validity and the attractiveness of a technology to the market in terms of meeting requirements and providing value which exceeds the total cost of ownership. Sponsors of fuel cell development have addressed this issue by requiring the developers to prepare projections of the future production cost of their fuel cells in commercial quantities. These projected costs, together with performance and life projections, provide a preliminary measure of the total value and cost of the product to the customer. Booz-Allen & Hamilton Inc. and Michael A. Cobb & Company have been retained in several assignments over the years to audit these cost projections. The audits have gone well beyond a simple review of the numbers. They have probed the underlying technical and financial assumptions, the sources of data on material and equipment costs, and explored issues such as the realistic manufacturing yields which can be expected in various processes. Based on the experience gained from these audits, DOE gave Booz-Allen and Michael A. Cobb & company the task to develop a criteria to be used in the execution of future fuel cell manufacturing cost studies. It was thought that such a criteria would make it easier to execute such studies in the future as well as to cause such studies to be more understandable and comparable.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Environmental Technology Verification (ETV) Program evaluates the performance of innovative air, water, pollution prevention and monitoring technologies that have the potential to improve human health and the environment. This bookle...

Full Text Available In the industrial society, politicians had to command the language TV since the intensity of the reaction was more important than the length of the message. They had to make categorical statements. In the Information Society with information and communication technologies (TICs, this changes to a great extent due to pluralism and the fact that more people make themselves heard. Blogs appear as a way to give opinion and information, and can be considered as an alternative form of expression –blogs give different views on news ignored by the main media-. Activists, political parties, organizations and citizens use websites, blogs or wikis as a means to insist and create opinion. TICs and cooperative tools of Web 2.0 increase people’s interest in politics, individual commitment and participation and cause political mediators to disappear. This paper presents a reflection on the impact of TICs on the theory of politics, and the results of a quantitative analysis of cases from the observation of how TICs are used on the social platform “Nunca Máis”, as well as by the autonomous government Xunta de Galicia, the Parliament of Galicia and the political party Bloque Nacionalista Galego.

Project organized problem based learning is a successful concept for on-campus education at Aalborg University. The "Aalborg concept" has been used in networked distance education as well. This paper describes a project from the first year of our Master of Information Technology education organized...... with Internet-mediated project work. A group of 4 students carried out a project dependent on knowledge from two firms where two of the group members are working, making this a kind of Worked Based Learning (WBL). The project was formulated as a traditional on-campus type of project with the same complexity......, it is much more risky if the on-campus model is transferred directly to off-campus learning. The main reasons are that the students must communicate electronically, and that they are under a fierce time strain, studying part time and typically with a full time job and a family. Experiences with this type...

A review of several classic innovation cases that have been widely misinterpreted. Amongst the reasons for misinterpreation are: lack of immersion in the detail of the cases; the bringing to a case of faulty assumptions about reality that are a product of single disciplinary specialisation....

Schools must encourage learners to be creative and Technology Edu- cation provides an .... creative abilities Couger (1995:370) states that " the capacity to pro- duce original ... out ... um ... who was what ideas was best and what would work?

Full Text Available The paper presents the initial part of a study designed to understand the place of the present generation of engineering students in the global picture of their working life. The education represents an inestimable good that accompanies peoples through their existence. Higher education is the place were teenagers with different profiles modelled by their families, studies; experiences and so on come to meet, in most cases, the final education platform before employment. In light of this the higher education has the major role of prepare the students with the knowledge and skills appropriate to the labour market. That means with the knowledge and skills they need and their future employers are looking for. It involves a huge effort, dedicated to the transfer of knowledge and skills with a success rate as high as possible. To achieve this the study programs and the teaching methods must embody both objectives: to be tailored for the students and to meet the employers needs. That places the higher education on the border of the two parties, its role in achieving the outlined objectives being major.

Full Text Available not loose the opportunity to have a positive influence on the attitudes of people towards science and technology. The question that comes to mind is where and when to start? There is no clear answer to these questions, but what is obvious is that we cannot...

The purpose of this study was to understand the organizational level decision factors in technology adoption in the context of digital libraries. A qualitative casestudy approach was used to investigate the adoption of a specific technology, XML-based Web services, in digital libraries. Rogers' diffusion of innovations and Wenger's communities of…

The purpose of this study was to understand the organizational level decision factors in technology adoption in the context of digital libraries. A qualitative casestudy approach was used to investigate the adoption of a specific technology, XML-based Web services, in digital libraries. Rogers' diffusion of innovations and Wenger's communities of…

Nursing education is challenged to prepare students for complex healthcare needs through the integration of teamwork and informatics. Technology has become an important teaching tool in the blended classroom to enhance group based learning experiences. Faculty evaluation of classroom technologies is imperative prior to adoption. Few studies have directly compared various technologies and their impact on student satisfaction and learning. The purpose of this study was to evaluate technology enhanced teaching methods on the learning and satisfaction of graduate students in an advanced pharmacology class using an unfolding casestudy. After IRB approval, students were randomly assigned to one of three groups: blogging group, wiki group or webinar group. Students completed the evolving casestudy using the assigned interactive technology. Student names were removed from the casestudies. Faculty evaluated the casestudy using a rubric, while blinded to the assigned technology method used. No significant difference was found on casestudy grades, the range of grades on the assignment demonstrated little differences between the methods used. Students indicated an overall positive impact related to networking and collaboration on a satisfaction survey. Impact of technology methods needs to be explored in other areas of graduate nursing education.

Today as embedded computing technology and sensors become cheaper and smaller wearable technologies experience an unprecedented boom. This article presents two wearable systems that aim to help people with low vision and the blind in performing everyday tasks and doing sports. DIGIGLASSES is a project aimed at creating a pair of augmented reality digital glasses that present controlled light and contrast levels and marks selectable features on the field of vision to aid in everyday tasks. BLINDTRACK is guidance system that uses wireless localization and an innovative haptic feedback belt to guide blind runners along the running track. Both systems are briefly presented along with the most relevant technical details and user feedback where applicable. Both projects were funded by the EU FP7. Corresponding author V. Kalman: viktor.kalman@ateknea.com.

Project organized problem based learning is a successful concept for on-campus education at Aalborg University. The "Aalborg concept" has been used in networked distance education as well. This paper describes a project from the first year of our Master of Information Technology education organiz...... of project in group-organized distance education, are described and commented by three of the group members, and some possible solutions for more appropriate types of projects are listed......Project organized problem based learning is a successful concept for on-campus education at Aalborg University. The "Aalborg concept" has been used in networked distance education as well. This paper describes a project from the first year of our Master of Information Technology education organized...... with Internet-mediated project work. A group of 4 students carried out a project dependent on knowledge from two firms where two of the group members are working, making this a kind of Worked Based Learning (WBL). The project was formulated as a traditional on-campus type of project with the same complexity...

The general chemistry course at Harvey Mudd College presents chemical principles and addresses technology's impact on society. Students consider environmental and economic implications of chemical scenarios in real-world casestudies created for team-based analysis and discussion. Casestudy design, implementation, and assessment are presented.…

Our differences in language, cultures, and history around the world play a vital role in the way we learn. As technology-based education continues to be used worldwide, there is an ever growing interest in how multiculturalism comes into effect. Multiculturalism in Technology-Based Education: CaseStudies on ICT-Supported Approaches explores the…

Building a trust-based relationship with faculty is one of the most important attributes of effective Instructional Technology Consultants (ITC) in order to integrate emerging technologies into higher education. Utilizing a multiple casestudy research design, four experienced ITCs at a large urban research university located in the Midwest showed…

This research examined the effects of case-based instructional strategies on the development of Pedagogical Technology Integration Content Knowledge (PTICK) in alternative teacher preparation students. The study was part of the Crossroads Project funded by the Preparing Tomorrow's Teachers for Using Technology (PT3) grant from the United States…

Teachers are not typically involved as participatory designers in the design of technology-enhanced learning environments. As they have unique and valuable perspectives on the role of technology in education, it is of utmost importance to engage them in a participatory design process. Adopting a casestudy methodology, we aim to reveal in what…

Despite research and practitioner articles outlining the importance information technology disaster plans (ITDRPs) to organizational success, barriers have impeded the process of disaster preparation for Burlington County New Jersey school districts. The purpose of this explanatory qualitative casestudy was to understand how technology leader…

Building a trust-based relationship with faculty is one of the most important attributes of effective Instructional Technology Consultants (ITC) in order to integrate emerging technologies into higher education. Utilizing a multiple casestudy research design, four experienced ITCs at a large urban research university located in the Midwest showed…

Teachers are not typically involved as participatory designers in the design of technology-enhanced learning environments. As they have unique and valuable perspectives on the role of technology in education, it is of utmost importance to engage them in a participatory design process. Adopting a casestudy methodology, we aim to reveal in what…

As a global agreement on climate mitigation and absolute emissions reductions remains grid-locked, this paper assesses whether the prospects for international technology cooperation in low-carbon sectors can be improved. It analyses the case of international cooperation on electric vehicle technologies to elaborate on the trade-offs that cooperation such as this inherently attempts to balance- national growth objectives of industrial and technology development versus the global goods benefit of reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. It focuses on bilateral German-Chinese programmes for electric vehicle development, as well as multilateral platforms on low-carbon technology cooperation related to electric vehicles. Based on insights from these casesstudies, this paper ultimately provides policy recommendations to address gaps in international technology cooperation at a bilateral level for ongoing German-Chinese engagement on electric vehicles; and at a multilateral level with a focus on the emerging technology cooperation framework of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

htmlabstractWe provide a detailed report of a reproduction study of a paper published in the International Journal of Medical Sciences (IJMS). We first use the PROV-O ontology to model our reconstruction of the computational workflow of the original experiment and to systematically explicate all

We provide a detailed report of a reproduction study of a paper published in the International Journal of Medical Sciences (IJMS). We first use the PROV-O ontology to model our reconstruction of the computational work ow of the original experiment and to systematically explicate all information that

The objective of this study was to analyze the recording of the nursing process, supported by information and communication technologies in both printed and electronic media in the neonatal intensive care scenario. This casestudy was exclusive, integrated, and conducted between January and April 2014. The study counted on the participation of seven nurses who worked at a neonatal ICU before and after the deployment of new information and communication technologies, which combined electronic ...

In this article, the authors describe a casestudy approach used to examine the complexities and contradictions of ways teachers perceive and implement technology in a seventh-grade social studies class. The participants in this qualitative research study were a 13-year veteran social studies teacher and the student intern who worked with this…

The purpose of this study is to evaluate preservice Information Technology (IT) teachers' professional competency in the teaching process. The study was designed on the basis of evaluative casestudy. The participants of the study consisted of seven preservice IT teachers attending the department of Computer Education and Instructional…

There is a continuing need for new health technologies to address the disease burdens of developing countries. In the last decade Product Development Partnerships (PDP) have emerged that are making important contributions to the development of these technologies. PDPs are a form of public private partnerships that focus on health technology development. PDPs reflect the current phase in the history of health technology development: the Era of Partnerships, in which the public and private sectors have found productive ways to collaborate. Successful innovation depends on addressing six determinants of innovation. We examine four casestudies of PDPs and show how they have addressed the six determinants to achieve success.

Full Text Available Drawing on a single casestudy based on first-hand and long-term evidence gathered through extensive fieldwork, this article examines the process of technological capability accumulation and its implications for operational performance improvement in a chemical firm in Brazil (1980-2007. The evidence indicates that the efforts on technological capability accumulation, especially for innovative activities, permitted the case-study firm to improve its operational performance, notably in terms of technical and, to some extent, in terms of commercial indicators. This study contributes to advancing our understanding of relationship between the firm-level accumulation of technological capabilities and operational performance improvement. The study draws managers’ attention to the importance of managing and measuring a multiplicity of technological capabilities within firms and to the relevance of firm-level engineering-based innovative activities, normally neglected by policy makers.

Technology has for long been predicted to be a key development factor in answering the difficult questions on how to secure welfare in industrialised countries as life expectancy increases and the working population and taxpayers diminish. This is particularly assumed for information...... of policies have critical social implications in development of future technology-based welfare systems....... (normalisation). This article provides two casestudies from Denmark; one case with hypertension monitoring at a local level and another case on national policy implementation through funding of selected demonstration projects. Among the findings are that policy-making processes certainly face major challenges...

Full Text Available Polytechnic instruction has a common place in the Cuban education system (Gasperini, 2000. In polytechnic institutions, teachers leverage technological tools to prepare students for labor market competences. This casestudy examined a polytechnic institution in Cuba to consider how teachers defined educational technology. Based on teacher questionnaire responses, site-based teacher interviews, and field observations, technology was primarily viewed as a method for student preparation. In other words, teachers used technology to prepare students for their future careers and the technology they will need to be successful in that career. The study found that teachers highly valued their technical pedagogical training, believed that the growing spaces were an integral part of their technology based instruction, and claimed that the limited resources was their greatest barrier to integrating ICT in the classroom.

Modern Standardization -- CaseStudies at the Crossroads of Technology, Economics, and Politics covers the development of new technical standards, how these standards are typically triggered, and how they are submitted to standards development organizations (SDOs) for review and evaluation. It fills the gap in the shortage of reference material in the development of real-world standards. The increasing pace of innovation in technology has accelerated the competitive nature of standardization, particularly in emerging markets. Modern Standardization addresses these and other issues through a series of casestudies in a format designed for academics and their engineering, business, and law school students.

Full Text Available Building on a casestudy of five Chinese solar thermal companies and one association, our study aims to understand how the innovator’s choices regarding the use of technology and organizational practices for new product development enable companies to design and diffuse appropriate technology in emerging markets. The study uncovers two critical factors that enhance the appropriateness of technology: redefining the identity of technology and building a local supply system. Our analysis shows that synergic innovation in both architecture and component leads to the appropriate functionalities desired by emerging markets. Moreover, modular design and the building of a local supply system enhance the process appropriateness of technology. Our study provides an empirical basis for advocating going beyond minor adaptations of existing products to creating appropriate technology for emerging markets, and extends our understandings of the upstream process of designing appropriate technology. Moreover, the emphasis on the local supply system reflects a holistic framework for shaping and delivering appropriate technology, expanding the existing research focus on the perspective of the technology itself. Our research also has managerial implications that may help firms tap into emerging markets.

In late 1990 and early 1991, a methodological framework was developed for testing technology transfer hypotheses within GIS operational environments. The paper reporting this work was titled "CaseStudy Research Methods for Geographic Information Systems" (Onsrud, Pinto, and Azad 1992). This report gathers together (1) the original foundation paper used as the basis for the casestudy research project, (2) the call for participation that includes a listing of the thirty hypotheses for which "...

This autobiographical casestudy is concerned with the personal journey of the author as he attempts to implement a technology-based innovation within the HE institution in which he teaches. This study scrutinises the author's role as "change agent" and examines his personal situational power base in the context of the institution's…

Casing drilling is an alternative option to conventional drilling and uses standard oilfield casing instead of drillstring. This technology is one of the greatest developments in drilling operations. Casing drilling involves drilling and casing a well simultaneously. In casing driling process, downhole tools can be retrieved, through the casing on wire-line, meaning tool recovery or replacement of tools can take minutes versus hours under conventional methods. This process employs wireline-re...

Eight casestudies of U.S. manufacturing subsidiaries of Japanese multinationals are analyzed in terms of variations in competitive strategies and industrial relations practices. Based on data collected in 1980 on-site visits, each firm is reviewed in light of the technology contributions coming from the Japanese parent and is categorized as having product-, process-, and/or management-centered technology strategies. The industrial relations practices are also grouped according to similaritie...

Over the last 10 years, information technology has been the fastest growing sector in the global economy. Nevertheless, technology and computer-based instruction have not been sufficiently integrated into the curriculum especially at institutions that serve primarily language minority, low income, and first generation, female college populations.…

Full Text Available Casing drilling is an alternative option to conventional drilling and uses standard oilfield casing instead of drillstring. This technology is one of the greatest developments in drilling operations. Casing drilling involves drilling and casing a well simultaneously. In casing driling process, downhole tools can be retrieved, through the casing on wire-line, meaning tool recovery or replacement of tools can take minutes versus hours under conventional methods. This process employs wireline-retrievable tools and a drill-lock assembly, permitting bit and BHA changes, coring, electrical logging and even directional or horizontal drilling. Once the casing point is reached, the casing is cemented in place without tripping pipe.

This dissertation addresses the need for critical assessment and evaluation of human rights education (HRE) programs and activities, especially newer initiatives that incorporate the use of digital information and communications technology (ICT). It provides an in-depth casestudy of the use of digital ICT in Amnesty International's HRE efforts,…

A qualitative casestudy research design provided an in-depth perspective of the participants in relation to understanding the holistic impact technology has on the incivility of student-to-student and student-to-faculty interactions in higher education. The conceptual framework by Twale and Deluca (2008), based upon Salin's (2003) proposed model…

The purpose of the qualitative positivistic casestudy was to explore whether resource communication technology has helped or would help the marketing of textile products in the U.S. textile industry. The contributions of human capital in the marketing department, the marketing-demand information system function, and the product supply chain…

The purpose of the qualitative positivistic casestudy was to explore whether resource communication technology has helped or would help the marketing of textile products in the U.S. textile industry. The contributions of human capital in the marketing department, the marketing-demand information system function, and the product supply chain…

To shed some light on the concrete factors that determine success of radical technological innovations a concrete case of such an innovation will be studied. In 2008, two engineers founded the Pinion GmbH to develop and exploit a new bicycle transmission concept as competitive shifting system for bicycles to overcome the existent disadvantages of traditional derailleur systems and internal gear hubs.

Technology-led innovation represents an important driver of European economic and industrial competitiveness and offers solutions to societal challenges. In order to facilitate responsible innovation and public acceptance, a need exists to identify and implement oversight approaches focused on the effective risk governance of emerging technologies. This article describes a foresight study on the governance of new technologies, using nanotechnology as a case example. Following a mapping of the governance landscape, four plausible foresight scenarios were developed, capturing critical uncertainties for nanotechnology governance. Key governance elements were then stress tested within these scenarios to see how well they might perform in a range of possible futures and to inform identification of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats for nanotechnology governance in Europe. Based on the study outcomes, recommendations are proposed regarding the development of governance associated with the responsible development of new technologies.

Technology has for long been predicted to be a key development factor in answering the difficult questions on how to secure welfare in industrialised countries as life expectancy increases and the working population and taxpayers diminish. This is particularly assumed for information and communic......Technology has for long been predicted to be a key development factor in answering the difficult questions on how to secure welfare in industrialised countries as life expectancy increases and the working population and taxpayers diminish. This is particularly assumed for information...... and communication-based technologies (ICT) for homecare and monitoring (telemedicine, telehomecare). Despite major investments and national commitment, public policies have not yet found a general approach to move from technological and clinical opportunity and into large-scale regular use of the technology...... (normalisation). This article provides two casestudies from Denmark; one case with hypertension monitoring at a local level and another case on national policy implementation through funding of selected demonstration projects. Among the findings are that policy-making processes certainly face major challenges...

Full Text Available The casestudytechnology is considered to be an effective tool for developing the students’ environmental competence. Numerous modern interactive techniques, facilitating the competence approach, can be fitted into its framework. The essence of the case-study is defined as the teaching method of problem-solving. The technology in question makes it possible to use the so called triad of «training – education – development», and provides such teaching opportunities as streaming the students according to their interests, skills, abilities and psychological peculiarities; and, therefore, assigning the relevant and motivating individual tasks.The paper traces the history of the case-study, as well as some theoretical and methodological aspects of its implementation in teaching process; the pedagogic goals fulfilled by means of the given technology are listed along with its advantages compared to other methods. The «case-study» term, its structure and working algorithms are defined. The application examples relating to environmental education at different levels are given.

This report represents the preliminary effort in studying the significance of recognition for innovators of spinoff technologies. The purpose of this initial year's effort in this area was to gather preliminary data and define the direction for the remainder of the research. This report focuses on the most recent recipients of the Hall of Fame Award, the developers of liquid-cooled garments. Liquid-cooled garments technology and its spinoffs were used as a casestudy to define and explore the factors involved in technology transfer and to consider the possible incentives in developing commercial applications including the Hall of Fame Award. Through interviews, views of award recipients were obtained on factors encouraging spinoffs as well as impediments to spinoffs. The researchers observed complex inter-relationships among the significant entities (government, individuals, large and small business), the importance of people, the importance of resource availability, and the significance of intrinsic motivation; drew preliminary conclusions pertaining to the direct and indirect influence of recognition like the Hall of Fame Award; and planned the direction for next year's follow-on research.

Full Text Available As digital technologies permeate every aspect of our lives, the complexity of the educational settings, and of the technological support we use within them, unceasingly rises. This increased complexity, along with the need for educational practitioners to apply such technologies within multi-constraint authentic settings, has given rise to the notion of technology-enhanced learning practice as “orchestration of learning”. However, at the same time, the complexity involved in evaluating the benefits of such educational technologies has also increased, prompting questions about the way evaluators can cope with the different places, technologies, informants and issues involved in their evaluation activity. By proposing the notion of “orchestrating evaluation”, this paper tries to reconcile the often disparate “front office accounts” of research publications and the “shop floor practice” of evaluation of educational technology, through the casestudy of evaluating a system to help teachers in coordinating computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL scenarios. We reuse an internationally-evaluated conceptual framework of “orchestration aspects” (design, management, adaptation, pragmatism, etc. to structure the case‟s narrative, showing how the original evaluation questions and methods were modulated in the face of the multiple (authentic evaluation setting constraints.

Health technology forecasting is designed to provide reliable predictions about costs, utilization, diffusion, and other market realities before the technologies enter routine clinical use. In this article we address three questions central to forecasting's usefulness: Are early forecasts sufficiently accurate to help providers acquire the most promising technology and payers to set effective coverage policies? What variables contribute to inaccurate forecasts? How can forecasters manage the variables to improve accuracy? We analyzed forecasts published between 2007 and 2010 by the ECRI Institute on four technologies: single-room proton beam radiation therapy for various cancers; digital breast tomosynthesis imaging technology for breast cancer screening; transcatheter aortic valve replacement for serious heart valve disease; and minimally invasive robot-assisted surgery for various cancers. We then examined revised ECRI forecasts published in 2013 (digital breast tomosynthesis) and 2014 (the other three topics) to identify inaccuracies in the earlier forecasts and explore why they occurred. We found that five of twenty early predictions were inaccurate when compared with the updated forecasts. The inaccuracies pertained to two technologies that had more time-sensitive variables to consider. The casestudies suggest that frequent revision of forecasts could improve accuracy, especially for complex technologies whose eventual use is governed by multiple interactive factors. Project HOPE—The People-to-People Health Foundation, Inc.

Examining non-technological innovations for environmentally and socially-friendly transport, this book provides the reader with a better understanding of this often overlooked topic. It features four illustrative casestudies, and presents a concise review of the core transport modes (road, rail and marine transport). Transport companies are compelled to innovate due to economic and environmental pressures, and the aim of these innovations is to improve fuel efficiency and ultimately to transform energy use in the transport sector. Whilst many of these innovations are technological, they can c

The purpose of this Technology Installation Review is to provide an overview of hybrid geothermal heat pump systems. It presents the results of recent research on these systems, looks at system types, energy savings, maintenance considerations, and measured technology performance from several examples. Using the ground as a thermal energy source and/or a heat sink for heat pumps has long been recognized to have a number of advantages over the similar use of ambient air. Ground temperatures at about 3-ft depth or lower are much less variable than ambient air temperatures. Further, soil or rock at these depths is usually warmer than ambient air during the coldest winter months and cooler than ambient air during the summer months. This fact leads directly to cooler condensation temperatures (during cooling operation) and warmer evaporating temperatures (during heating) for a heat pump with consequent improved energy efficiency. It also results in increased heating and cooling capacity at extreme temperatures, thereby reducing or eliminating the need for auxiliary heat.

Full Text Available A qualitative casestudy research design provided an in-depth perspective of the participants in relation to understanding the holistic impact technology has on the incivility of student-tostudent and student-to-faculty interactions in higher education. The conceptual framework by Twale and Deluca (2008, based upon Salin’s (2003 proposed model for bullying, is detailed. Participants were doctoral students (n=17 who are full-time professionals in higher education. The participants were given open-ended questions regarding technology and incivility. Access and ethical considerations are detailed. Participants’ detailed written responses were analyzed as outlined by Yin (2003. Four themes emerged from the data analysis; reported causes, reported outcomes, relationship types of participants, and ways to reduce technology’s impact on incivility. Technology use and incivility in higher education are both increasing. This study is important in understanding the views of students and perceptions of the causes, impact, and ways to decrease incivility.

This study aims at developing a sustainability assessment framework for assessing the technologies for the treatment of urban sewage sludge based on the logarithmic fuzzy preference programming based fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (LFPPFAHP) and extension theory. LFPPFAHP was employed...... to determine the weights of the criteria for sustainability assessment, and extension theory was used to prioritize the alternative technologies for the treatment of urban sewage sludge and grade their sustainability performances. An illustrative case including three technologies (compositing, incineration......, and resource utilization) was studied by the proposed method, and compositing, incineration, and resource utilization are recognized as "Moderately Sustainable", "Not Sustainable", and "Highly Sustainable", respectively. The sustainability sequence in the descending order is resource utilization, compositing...

Effective standardization of clinical processes, which is a growing priority for healthcare provider organizations and networks, requires effective teamwork among clinicians and staff from multidisciplinary backgrounds--often from geographically dispersed facilities--to reach consensus on care practices. Yet, most healthcare provider organizations have no precedence or tools for managing large-scale, sustained, collaborative activities. This presentation explores the human and social implications of technology. It specifically addresses healthcare collaboration and describes how innovative collaboration management technologies can be used in the healthcare industry to accelerate care standardization, order set standardization and other initiatives necessary for successful computerized provider order entry and electronic health record deployments. These topics are explored through presentation of a survey of healthcare executives and a casestudy of an advanced collaboration application that was adapted and deployed in a partnership between a large healthcare provider organization and a commercial developer of document management and collaboration management technologies.

The next-generation sequencing technologies are able to produce millions of short sequence reads in a high-throughput, cost-effective fashion. The emergence of these technologies has not only facilitated genome sequencing but also started to change the landscape of life sciences. Here, I survey their major applications ranging from whole-genome sequencing and resequencing, single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) and structural variation discovery, to mRNA and noncoding RNA profiling and protein-nucleic acid interaction assay. These casestudies in structural, functional and comparative genomics, metagenomics, and epigenomics are providing a more complete picture of the genome structures and functions. In the near future, we will witness broad impacts of these next-generation sequencing technologies for solving the complex biological problems in food, nutrition and agriculture. In this article, recent patents based information is also included.

The chapter presents two casestudies to show the tools of feasibiliy studies within the context of technological innovation.......The chapter presents two casestudies to show the tools of feasibiliy studies within the context of technological innovation....

This qualitative casestudy describes a unique online professional development program utilizing Web 2.0 technologies for teachers of German using the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) model as a theoretical framework to promote technology literacy, expand German language proficiency and cultural knowledge, and integrate…

Full Text Available This paper integrates several streams of literature in transition management and proposes a holistic framework for its application in policy-making. Separate fields of study, such as motors of change and strategic intelligence tools, are unified in a single analytical process. The process involves five steps that may be repeated until a desired policy objective is achieved. The pilot, integrated technology roadmap process that has been launched in Turkey is analyzed as a casestudy. The Energy Efficiency Technology Roadmap has been completed with the participation of over 160 experts in 5 different stages. It involved the collection of over 349 Delfi statements, their consolidation for a Delfi survey with 16 statements, the analysis of the results, a focal group meeting to develop roadmaps for the 7 selected goals, and the consultation of the roadmaps to the sector. The paper concludes that an integrated technology roadmap process, as described in the pilot casestudy, provides an advanced version of transition management, which is needed to mobilize research, development, and innovation for sustainable development.

Environmental modelers are testing and evaluating a prototype land cover characteristics database for the conterminous United States developed by the EROS Data Center of the U.S. Geological Survey and the University of Nebraska Center for Advanced Land Management Information Technologies. This database was developed from multi temporal, 1-kilometer advanced very high resolution radiometer (AVHRR) data for 1990 and various ancillary data sets such as elevation, ecological regions, and selected climatic normals. Several casestudies using this database were analyzed to illustrate the integration of satellite remote sensing and geographic information systems technologies with land-atmosphere interactions models at a variety of spatial and temporal scales. The casestudies are representative of contemporary environmental simulation modeling at local to regional levels in global change research, land and water resource management, and environmental simulation modeling at local to regional levels in global change research, land and water resource management and environmental risk assessment. The casestudies feature land surface parameterizations for atmospheric mesoscale and global climate models; biogenic-hydrocarbons emissions models; distributed parameter watershed and other hydrological models; and various ecological models such as ecosystem, dynamics, biogeochemical cycles, ecotone variability, and equilibrium vegetation models. The casestudies demonstrate the important of multi temporal AVHRR data to develop to develop and maintain a flexible, near-realtime land cover characteristics database. Moreover, such a flexible database is needed to derive various vegetation classification schemes, to aggregate data for nested models, to develop remote sensing algorithms, and to provide data on dynamic landscape characteristics. The casestudies illustrate how such a database supports research on spatial heterogeneity, land use, sensitivity analysis, and scaling issues

The present study quantifies the reduction in the levelized cost of electricity (LCoE) and capital expenditure (CAPEX) of a dish Stirling power plant (DSPP) through an increase in localization and unit production volume. Furthermore, the localization value of the plant is examined to determine how much investment is brought into the local economy. Ouarzazate, Morocco, was chosen as the location of the study due to the country's favorable regulatory framework with regards to solar power technologies and its established industry in the concentrating solar power (CSP) field. A detailed techno-economic model of a DSPP was developed using KTH's in-house modelling tool DYESOPT, which allows power plant evaluation by means of technical and economic performance indicators. Results on the basis of LCoE and CAPEX were compared between two different cases of production volume, examining both a minimum and maximum level of localization. Thereafter, the DSPP LCoE and localization value were compared against competing solar technologies to evaluate its competitiveness. In addition, a sensitivity analysis was conducted around key design parameters. The study confirms that the LCoE of a DSPP can be reduced to values similar to solar photovoltaic (PV) and lower than other CSP technologies. Furthermore, the investment in the local economy is far greater when compared to PV and of the same magnitude to other CSP technologies. The competiveness of a DSPP has the potential to increase further when coupled with thermal energy storage (TES), which is currently under development.

Full Text Available This casestudy aims to analyze the integration's approaches and technologies among information systems and services in an academic environment. It has been done a study on the integration history in the Federal University of Lavras. The data had been gathered via questionnaires and documentation analysis. In this analysis, 4 distinct phases were specified. Besides, the advantages and disadvantages of each phase were discussed. The main contribution of this work is the analysis of different integration approaches among information systems and other services.

Full Text Available Modern information and communication technologies together with intelligent devices provide a continuous inflow of large amounts of data that are used by traffic and transport systems. Collecting traffic data does not represent a challenge nowadays, but the issues remains in relation to storing and processing increasing amounts of data. In this paper we have investigated the possibilities of using Big Data technology to store and process data in the transport domain. The term Big Data refers to a large volume of information resource, its velocity and variety, far beyond the capabilities of commonly used software for storing, processing and data management. In our casestudy, Apache™ Hadoop® Big Data was used for processing data collected from 10 automatic traffic counters set up in Novi Sad and its surroundings. Indicators of traffic load which were calculated using the Big Data platforms were presented using tables and graphs in Microsoft Office Excel tool. The visualization and geolocation of the obtained indicators were performed using the Microsoft Business Intelligence (BI tools such as: Excel Power View and Excel Power Map. This casestudy showed that Big Data technologies combined with the BI tools can be used as a reliable support in monitoring of the traffic management systems.

This report for the International Energy Agency (IEA) made by Task 9 of the Photovoltaic Power Systems (PVPS) programme presents 16 CaseStudies on the deployment of photovoltaic technologies in developing countries. This guide provides information for all decision-makers in developing countries involved in the process of developing a PV project. These decision-makers can be found in institutions and host governments and also include PV project developers and sponsors, PV producers and suppliers, entrepreneurs, and NGOs. The casestudies presented can help such decision-makers learn from past experience gained in the deployment of PV systems. They include experience gained in PV-related projects in various countries, including electrification, water desalination and solar home systems. Financing issues are, of course, also addressed.

Full Text Available This casestudy is the result of a project conducted on behalf of a company that uses its own returnable containers to transport purchased parts from suppliers. The objective of this project was to develop a proposal to enable the company to more effectively track and manage its returnable containers. The research activities in support of this project included (1 the analysis and documentation of the physical flow and the information flow associated with the containers and (2 the investigation of new technologies to improve the automatic identification and tracking of containers. This paper explains the automatic identification technologies and important criteria for selection. A companion paper details the flow of information and containers within the logistics chain, and it identifies areas for improving the management of the containers.

Full Text Available With the development in information technology resources, a way of working has been standing out: telecommuting. This manner of working from a distance may offer a competitive advantage in attracting and retaining highly skilled professionals. The purpose of the research presented in this article is to identify guidelines for the implementation and management of telecommuting, as an alternative to overcome the shortage of qualified professionals in Information Technology (IT. The results, based on a casestudy of a Brazilian subsidiary of a multinational organization that provides IT services, shown that telecommuting (1 contributes to attracting and retaining qualified professionals in IT, (2 should be based on trustworthy relationships, (3 has to be supported by a strategy of decentralization of both structure and organizational assets.

This book covers the latest advances in Big Data technologies and provides the readers with a comprehensive review of the state-of-the-art in Big Data processing, analysis, analytics, and other related topics. It presents new models, algorithms, software solutions and methodologies, covering the full data cycle, from data gathering to their visualization and interaction, and includes a set of casestudies and best practices. New research issues, challenges and opportunities shaping the future agenda in the field of Big Data are also identified and presented throughout the book, which is intended for researchers, scholars, advanced students, software developers and practitioners working at the forefront in their field.

This book is about HCI research in an industrial research setting. It is based on the experiences of two researchers at the IBM T. J. Watson Research Center. Over the last two decades, Drs. John and Clare-Marie Karat have conducted HCI research to create innovative usable technology for users across a variety of domains. We begin the book by introducing the reader to the context of industrial research as well as a set of common themes or guidelines to consider in conducting HCI research in practice. Then casestudy examples of HCI approaches to the design and evaluation of usable solutions for

Full Text Available The objective of this study was to analyze the recording of the nursing process, supported by information and communication technologies in both printed and electronic media in the neonatal intensive care scenario. This casestudy was exclusive, integrated, and conducted between January and April 2014. The study counted on the participation of seven nurses who worked at a neonatal ICU before and after the deployment of new information and communication technologies, which combined electronic and physical (paper support. Data were collected from medical records and a questionnaire answered by the nurses. Simple and percentage frequency in the levels of the nursing process application were used for analysis, as well as the set of intervening factors related to the work organization structure and process. Positive and negative results were seen, as well as intervening factors. The study concluded that the new information and communication technologies delivered in physical materials accounted for the registration of the higher number of records in the data collection and that the registration of the other stages did not show any substantial improvement.

Technologies such as renewable energy alternatives including wind, solar and biomass, storage technologies and electric engines are creating a different landscape for the electricity industry. Using sources and ideas from technologies such as renewable energy alternatives, Research and Technology Management in the Electricity Industry explores a different landscape for this industry and applies it to the electric industry supported by real industry cases. Divided into three sections, Research and Technology Management in the Electricity Industry introduces a range of methods and tools includ

Industrialized and welfare societies are faced with vast challenges in the field of healthcare in the years to come. New technological opportunities and implementation of welfare technology through co-creation are considered part of the solution to this challenge. Resistance to new technology and resistance to change is, however, assumed to rise from employees, care receivers and next of kin. The purpose of this article is to identify and describe forms of resistance that emerged in five municipalities during a technology implementation project as part of the care for older people. This is a longitudinal, single-embedded casestudy with elements of action research, following an implementation of welfare technology in the municipal healthcare services. Participants included staff from the municipalities, a network of technology developers and a group of researchers. Data from interviews, focus groups and participatory observation were analysed. Resistance to co-creation and implementation was found in all groups of stakeholders, mirroring the complexity of the municipal context. Four main forms of resistance were identified: 1) organizational resistance, 2) cultural resistance, 3) technological resistance and 4) ethical resistance, each including several subforms. The resistance emerges from a variety of perceived threats, partly parallel to, partly across the four main forms of resistance, such as a) threats to stability and predictability (fear of change), b) threats to role and group identity (fear of losing power or control) and c) threats to basic healthcare values (fear of losing moral or professional integrity). The study refines the categorization of resistance to the implementation of welfare technology in healthcare settings. It identifies resistance categories, how resistance changes over time and suggests that resistance may play a productive role when the implementation is organized as a co-creation process. This indicates that the importance of

Energy Information Systems (EIS), which can monitor and analyze building energy consumption and related data throughout the Internet, have been increasing in use over the last decade. Though EIS developers describe the capabilities, costs, and benefits of EIS, many of these descriptions are idealized and often insufficient for potential users to evaluate cost, benefit and operational usefulness. LBNL has conducted a series of casestudies of existing EIS and related technology installations. This study explored the following questions: (1) How is the EIS used in day-to-day operation? (2) What are the costs and benefits of an EIS? (3) Where do the energy savings come from? This paper reviews the process of these technologies from installation through energy management practice. The study is based on interviews with operators and energy managers who use EIS. Analysis of energy data trended by EIS and utility bills was also conducted to measure the benefit. This paper explores common uses and findings to identify energy savings attributable to EIS, and discusses non-energy benefits as well. This paper also addresses technologies related to EIS that have been demonstrated and evaluated by LBNL.

The aim of this study was to present the first four collaborative health technology assessment (HTA) processes on health technologies of different types and life cycles targeted toward diverse HTA users and facilitators, as well as the barriers of these collaborations. Retrospective analysis, through four casestudies, was performed on the first four collaboration experiences of agencies participating in the EUnetHTA Joint Action project (2010-12), comprising different types and life cycles of health technologies for a diverse target audience, and different types of collaboration. The methods used to initiate collaboration, partner contributions, the assessment methodology, report structure, time frame, and factors acting as possible barriers to and facilitators of this collaboration were described. Two ways were used to initiate collaboration in the first four collaborative HTA processes: active brokering of information, so-called "calls for collaboration," and individual contact between agencies after identifying a topic common to two agencies in the Planned and Ongoing Projects database. Several success factors are recognized: predefined project management, high degree of commitment to the project; adherence to timelines; high relevance of technology; a common understanding of the methods applied and advanced experience in HTA; finally, acceptance of English-written reports by decision makers in non-English-speaking countries. Barriers like late identification of collaborative partners, nonacceptance of English language and different methodology of assessment should be overcome. Timely and efficient, different collaborative HTA processes on relative efficacy/effectiveness and safety on different types and life cycles of health technologies, targeted toward diverse HTA users in Europe are possible. There are still barriers to overcome.

This single-site qualitative study sought to identify the characteristics that contribute to the self sustainability of technology transfer services at universities with small research budgets through a casestudy analysis of a small research budget university that has been operating a financially self-sustainable technology transfer service for…

This qualitative, exploratory casestudy was designed to elicit faculty members' perceptions of the factors that facilitate technology integration into their instruction. The study was conducted at a midsized higher education institution in Qatar. Davis's (1986) technology acceptance model (TAM) is the conceptual framework that guided this study…

This study examined the tensions surrounding the implementation of a technology-rich educational innovation called Quest Atlantis (QA) in a local public elementary school. Three qualitative casestudies of three classrooms implementing the innovation and a subsequent cross-case analysis were undertaken to illuminate: 1) the reasons why teachers…

Much literature surrounding medical technology and adherence posits that technology is a mechanism for social control. This assumes that the medical establishment can take away patients' agency. Although power relationships and social control can play a key role, medical technology can also serve as an agentive tool to be utilized. We (1) offer the alternative framework of Actor Network Theory to view medical technology, (2) discuss the literature on medication adherence and technology, (3) delve into the ramifications of looking at adherence as a network and (4) use Digital Pills as a casestudy of dispersed agency.

Place-based learning experiences in Design and Technologies education connect people and place with design processes and products. Drawing on place-based learning, this casestudy shares the experiences of eight final year pre-service Design and Technologies education students from the University of South Australia as they collaborated with…

Full Text Available The relevance of non-technical skills have long been acknowledged asimportant components of clinical learning, and there is evidence that integrating technologycan facilitate their development by encouraging reflection, and by enhancing communicationand reasoning. However, effectively integrating technology into learning practices must takethe contextual needs of students into consideration. The aim of this study was to determinewhat online tools undergraduate physiotherapy students at one South African university arefamiliar with, and how they use them as part of their learning practices.The casestudy was conducted in a university physiotherapy department in the WesternCape during 2010. A cross-sectional, descriptive design used a survey to obtain quantitativeand qualitative data from participants, and a pilot study was conducted to test the reliability of the instrument. All ethicalconsiderations were adhered to.Seventy six percent of participants had access to the internet at home, and 93% of them belonged to a social network, althoughfewer than half used it for their studying. Few students reported using the internet for more than information retrieval but reportedwanting to use it for enhanced communication with lecturers. Almost all respondents believed that lectures were a useful way tolearn. However, 61% added that integrating online learning activities with lectures could have value.Integrating technology into healthcare education has the potential to develop non-technical skills that are relevant for clinicalpractice. However, this group of students currently lack the experience and insight to use technology effectively as part of theirlearning practices. Educators must take cognisance of the educational and contextual needs of students if they wish to integratetechnology into clinical teaching.

Mobile technologies are growing rapidly around the world to broad demographics of society. These technologies hold great promise for their integration with Single Case Designs (SCDs) and the study of individuals in their natural environment. This paper discusses the theoretical, methodological and analytic implications of these tools for the advancement of the contextual behavioral etiology of behavioral disorders, and their remediation. We hope this paper will highlight the scientific advantages of combining mobile technologies and SCDs and encourage their adoption among CBS scientists.

Full Text Available This study focuses on the approach of the new technologies applied to training in the organizational context . As objectives we intend to analyze the importance and effectiveness of b-learning training as a tool for workers’ development in the Citizen Shops, and realize how the new information and communication technologies can be a dominant tool in the continuous training of workers. The method used was the casestudy – Agency for Administrative Modernisation – in order to verify the impact, between 2008 and 2012, of the training and learning process on the organization and on the individuals. For the collection of information appealed to the semi-structured interview (head of training , trainer, trainees. The results suggest that the implementation of the b-learning training methodology had a positive impact on the learning process and on the performance of the training groups, allowing the organization to support the creation of a training department to respond effectively to its needs.

Full Text Available This paper presents a casestudy of online learning. It is based on the researcher’s participation in an inter-university collaborative module at two higher education institutions in South Africa and the United States from August to December 2001. The paper addresses the advantages and disadvantages of the online learning environment and learning in a Virtual Classroom. It provides a critical interpretation of the virtual classroom experienced in this collaboration between institutions. It finds that there are benefits from applying this technology in educational practices and programs particularly in the African context where a large majority of school-leaving learners have little or no access to higher education. However, it also expounds the NEPAD (New Partnership for Africa’s Development initiative to produce ICT in schools throughout Africa to fulfil the Millennium Development Goals on education in developing countries.

One of the problems in health care in developing countries is the bad accessibility of medicine in pharmacies for patients. Since this is mainly due to a lack of organization and information, it should be possible to improve the situation by introducing information and communication technology. However, for several reasons, standard solutions are not applicable here. In this paper, we describe a casestudy in Benin, a West African developing country. We identify the problem and the existing obstacles for applying standard ECommerce solutions. We develop an adapted system approach and describe a practical test which has shown that the approach has the potential of actually improving the pharmaceutical care delivery. Finally, we consider the security aspects of the system and propose an organizational solution for some specific security problems.

Full Text Available Abstract Background Rapid reviews are of increasing importance within health technology assessment due to time and resource constraints. There are many rapid review methods available although there is little guidance as to the most suitable methods. We present three casestudies employing differing methods to suit the evidence base for each review and outline some issues to consider when selecting an appropriate method. Methods Three recently completed systematic review short reports produced for the UK National Institute for Health Research were examined. Different approaches to rapid review methods were used in the three reports which were undertaken to inform the commissioning of services within the NHS and to inform future trial design. We describe the methods used, the reasoning behind the choice of methods and explore the strengths and weaknesses of each method. Results Rapid review methods were chosen to meet the needs of the review and each review had distinctly different challenges such as heterogeneity in terms of populations, interventions, comparators and outcome measures (PICO and/or large numbers of relevant trials. All reviews included at least 10 randomised controlled trials (RCTs, each with numerous included outcomes. For the first casestudy (sexual health interventions, very diverse studies in terms of PICO were included. P-values and summary information only were presented due to substantial heterogeneity between studies and outcomes measured. For the second casestudy (premature ejaculation treatments, there were over 100 RCTs but also several existing systematic reviews. Data for meta-analyses were extracted directly from existing systematic reviews with new RCT data added where available. For the final casestudy (cannabis cessation therapies, studies included a wide range of interventions and considerable variation in study populations and outcomes. A brief summary of the key findings for each study was presented and

Full Text Available Research into the behaviours manifested by the dyslexic condition has often focused upon younger dyslexic pupils and the lower-order skill difficulty in decoding and encoding. A surge in interest in the writing process has shifted the focus to higher-order skills, and a growing body of research is emerging within the higher education context (Hughes & Suritsky, 1994; McNaughton et al., 1997; Hatcher, 2001; Singleton & Aisbett, 2001; Farmer et al., 2002. Students are expected to be ‘expert' writers, and the mark of a good student is the ability to use writing as a tool for thinking. Drawing upon data from semi-structured interviews with undergraduate and postgraduate dyslexic students and their real-time writing logs, three casestudies are presented and used to explore creative ways of using technology to manage dyslexia. The students demonstrate how they use different types of software to overcome writing anxiety, ‘fear of the blank page' syndrome and issues of plagiarism. The experiences of the students within the casestudies demonstrate that often simple software can provide the best solutions, and that students combine features from software programs in creative ways to compensate for weaknesses in their cognitive profile.

There are many influences on a child's identity. Photobook technology purposefully prepared around science explorations presents a modern opportunity to repeatedly trigger memories that reinforce the "me, as scientist" viewpoint. Semi-structured interviews at 6 and 8 years of age were conducted with a child who was the subject of a photobook of everyday science activities to gain insights into his thinking about the nature of science and how he interprets his younger self participating. Interview data were recorded, transcribed and analyzed using dimensions from the previously established parameters for the nature of science. The child's statements about his participation in the photos were matched to these dimensions to consider how he sees himself "doing science" through his early years. Preliminary findings suggest that the child recognizes elements of science and regards himself as an active participant. In both interviews, the child reinforces these views by the opportunity to revisit the experiences in the photobook. Affective components may motivate further science involvement as well: the child enjoyed the time and attention that the photos and discussion provided; the child took pride in being the subject of a book. This casestudy suggests that there is a fertile field of research to investigate how, for whom, and in what ways internet photobook technology may enhance a child's developing identity as capable science explorer.

The purpose of this study is to identify the level of technology acceptance among school teachers from the components of awareness and motivation, training and courses, training design, and supports and facilities. This study also aims to investigate whether teachers' acceptance of technology could influence their readiness for the pedagogical use…

New reproductive technologies have the capacity to impact on both personal and healthcare relationships. This article utilizes a casestudy approach to unpack experiences of one couple who encountered immense and unforeseen difficulties as a result of treatment with assisted reproductive technology. Findings of this case reveal both difficulties and breaches in obtaining informed consent and the consequences these breaches have on relationships. Comprehensive information contributes to positive relationships between patients and healthcare providers. Maintaining supportive relationships between all parties concerned with assisted reproductive technology services is essential, as rifts in these relationships can be devastating and long-lasting.

Science and technology constitute very important parameters in social evolution. The unprecedented rapidity of their development since the last century, in combination with the absence of a philosophical approach and the presence in some cases of criminal usage, poses a danger for humanity and for the planet. In contrast to the classical…

International technology transfer occurs frequently in international operations, for example in cases of foreign direct investment where companies set-up existing manufacturing lines in new locations. It also occurs in situations of international outsourcing where a new supplier receives product and

This article explores a few alternatives to the traditional legal and economic theories regarding the problem of global dissemination of knowledge and technology to developing countries. In particular, it examines three cases in which the classical notion of intellectual property rights seems...

This paper reports an experience of the author teaching high school 3D geometry with origami. In this case, students were originally expected to construct a 3D-hexaflexagon by imitating video tape so that they can understand some related math concepts better. However students demonstrated strong willing of exploring the concerned enchanting paper craft. They did not want to just memorize the folding procedures or be limited within verifying some math concepts. The teacher had then to extend the class time to 2 class periods, so that a series of creative activities are invited in. After the primary goals have been reached, two extra activities were launched. First, by exploring a torus forming animation, they explored a different algorithm of forming a hexaflexagon. Secondly, when another animation of Hexaflexagon made by the teacher was presented, the students can then explore the function of the slope of the creases. Some smart students found hexaflexagons with different shape or even different type. So the thinking level of the students reached the highest creating level by curriculum re-design. This casestudy comes to the conclusions that origami as well as good questions motivate students' higher level thinking. As students' scaffolds, video and animation technology are essential in helping the learners understanding origami in right perspectives.

Labour economists have been increasingly interested in the impact of technological change upon employment and unemployment. However, the predominant focus of empirical studies has been on employment and unemployment stocks, whereas technological change is more likely to affect the flows of labour. This paper focuses on the latter issue. In particular, given the technological change, two major questions posed in this paper are: (i) who moves from low-tech to high-tech jobs and who moves from h...

Describes an action research study of faculty and graduate teaching assistants at the University of Tennessee that was conducted to assess technology use by faculty, including their perceived barriers to and needs for technology adoption and use. Discusses the development of a Web-based resource in response to these needs. (Author/LRW)

Using grid and group theory (Douglas 1982, 2011), the study described in this article examined the intersections of technology and school finance in four schools located in districts differing in size, wealth, and commitment to technology integration. In grid and group theory, grid refers to the degree to which policies and role prescriptions…

Full Text Available The purpose of this study is to identify the level of technology acceptance among school teachers from the components of awareness and motivation, training and courses, training design, and supports and facilities. This study also aims to investigate whether teachers’ acceptance of technology could influence their readiness for the pedagogical use of mobile phone technology if it is to be implemented in school. A quantitative questionnaire was administered to thirty eight teachers who teach Information and Technology (IT subject from different primary schools in Penang, Malaysia during a program on Teachers’ Development. Data revealed that the level of technology acceptance among respondents in terms of awareness and motivation, training and courses, training design and supports and facilities was generally high. Despite this positive acceptance of technology, teachers’ readiness for the use of mobile phone in teaching and learning was found to be at a considerably low level. However, the study identified a significant correlation between respondents’ awareness and motivation towards technology with their readiness for the pedagogical usage of mobile phone. It was also found that gender is a possible factor influencing the respondents’ readiness. As implication, this paper probes the influence of technology acceptance on teachers’ readiness for the pedagogical usage of mobile phone and the possible implications this influence affords.

Full Text Available The book starts with an explanation of the reason why the terms found in the book are sometimes used in place of each other. The editors stated that when technological tools are used to establish an effective and productive study process in education, the concept of learning technology is used instead of educational technology. The editors of the book considers the field as complex and vague in terms of the fact that the meanings of the concepts are close to each other in the field of educational technology and that the field provides an opportunity for inter-disciplinary studies. However, according to the editors, this vagueness and complexity shows the superiority of the field. This superiority is explained with the fact that the field of educational technology requires upper-level skills of problem solving and critical thinking and that it presents a multi-dimensional and inter-disciplinary study field. The book was edited by Wanjira Kinuthia and Steward Marshall. Wanjira Kinuthia, an assistant professor at Georgia State University, works in the Department of Middle-Secondary Education and Instructional Technology. Steward Marshall, a professor at the University of the West Indies, is the director of the Distance Education Centre. The book includes five sections and 21 chapters. These sections are “Materials, Methods, and Modalities”, “Technology Implementation and Integration Issues”, “Student Engagement and Learning”, “Building Capacity”, “Using Technology for Performance Improvement and Productivity Enhancement”.

Full Text Available Information technology plays essential role on the success of organizations; it eases the access on information, reduces time on reaching the necessary information and builds a better communication among different groups of an organization. This paper performed an empirical investigation to find the effects of information technology on strategic management in one of Iranian automakers in after sales services in Iranian auto industry. The proposed study designed questionnaire and distributed among some experts and using t-student test examined the effect of information technology on various factors. The study design a questionnaire in Likert scale and distributes it among some experts and using some statistical observation measures the effects of information technology on various factors. The results have confirmed that information technology influenced on strategy execution and control policy.

As emerging technology continues to enter the social studies classroom, teachers need to approach integration of such technology in a systematic manner to ensure that such technology enhances the learning of their students. Currently, scholars of technology integration advocate for the use of one of two different models, either SAMR or TPACK. This…

As emerging technology continues to enter the social studies classroom, teachers need to approach integration of such technology in a systematic manner to ensure that such technology enhances the learning of their students. Currently, scholars of technology integration advocate for the use of one of two different models, either SAMR or TPACK. This…

Full Text Available The paper aims at proposing an information technology framework for demand management within a dyad on the supply chain pharmaceutical industry. The paper adopts the exploratory study as research method, involving a producer of generic drugs and its main distributor. Data was collected by semi - structured interviews. In pharmaceu tical supply chain, sharing information boosted by information technology translates into greater flexibility and reliability, lower costs, obtained through more reliable forecasting, and lower inventory requirements. There are few initiatives involving In formation Technology (IT applied to demand management in pharmaceutical supply chains available in the literature. It was found that the IT framework proposed in this research is adherent to the demand management of the focused pharmaceutical dyad. Other assumption was that, if partners processes integration exist, better supply chain performance is achieved. It was found that, by means of proposed tools and solutions, such as RFID and involved partners applications integration, this goal could be achieved . Because of the chosen research approach, results may be restricted to these specific dyadic processes. Further application of the proposed IT framework have to be tested. The paper identifies demand management strategic and operational processes that can reach a better performance by using the proposed IT framework. Based on the literature, were identified which IT requirements should be met to demand management processes optimization. Additionally, were applied questionnaires and interviews to the focuse d dyad personnel, to corroborate the data identified in the literature. Answers found in the casestudy link literature elements with those stated by respondents. Finally, based on this, was conceived an IT framework composed of three elements: 1. One spec ific for infrastructure, to enable data and systems interoperability among SC participants, considering a

Full Text Available The inclusion of online elements in learning environments is becoming commonplace in Post Compulsory Education. A variety of research into the value of such elements is available, and this study aims to add further evidence by looking specifically at the use of collaborative technologies such as online discussion forums and wikis to encourage higher order thinking and self-sufficient learning. In particular, the research examines existing pedagogical models including Salmon’s five-stage model, along with other relevant literature. A casestudy of adult learners in community-based learning centres forms the basis of the research, and as a result of the findings, an arrow model is suggested as a framework for online collaboration that emphasises the learner, mentions pre-course preparation and then includes three main phases of activity: post, interact and critique. This builds on Salmon’s five-stage model and has the benefit of being flexible and responsive, as well as allowing for further development beyond the model, particularly in a blended learning environment.

Whereas mining activities produce the raw materials that are crucial to economic growth, such activities leave extensive scarring on the land, contributing to the waste of valuable land resources and upsetting the ecological environment. The aim of this study is therefore to investigate various ecological technologies to restore metallurgical mine wastelands. These technologies include measures such as soil amelioration, vegetation restoration, different vegetation planting patterns, and engineering technologies. The Longnan Rare Earth Mine in the Jiangxi Province of China is used as the casestudy. The ecological restoration process provides a favourable reference for the restoration of a metallurgical mine wasteland.

Full Text Available Entrepreneurship is the solution to solve a problem of unemployment in any economy. Normally, we think of Technology innovations, we think of Engineers from top Technology Institutions. But innovations may also come from Grassroots people. This paper gives the Casestudy of Nature Technocrats – small business firm of Arvindbhai who has been supported by GIAN (Grassroots Innovations Augmentation Network, Technology Business Incubator for Grassroots Innovations in India. In India, there are many Technology Business Incubation centers but approach of GIAN is unique as it supports Grassroots innovators. This paper has come out of a larger study with Research design: Multiple Embedded Descriptive CaseStudy. The process of GIAN with unique mechanism of commercializing the Grassroots innovations is described. The problems in this area are also described. This casestudy may inspire other agencies in India or other countries too for working in the area of Grassroots innovations to Techno-entrepreneurship. Keywords: Grassroots innovations; Technology innovations; Techno-Entrepreneurship; GIAN; Technology Transfer.

The potential of various energy sources and technology options in meeting national economic and social development goals in developing countries is assessed. The resource options that are of interest are the development of indigenous resources. In general, two categories of options can be considered: those which correspond to the accelerated implementation of existing elements of the energy system and those which correspond to the introduction of a new technology, such as solar electricity. The various resource and technology options that must be analyzed with respect to a number of criteria or payoff functions are: total demand and fuel mix; reduction of oil consumption; national social goals; total energy costs; and environmental quality. First, a view is constructed of the energy implications of current national economic development plans. A consistent description of the future energy system of the country, under the assumption of current trends and policies is constructed for certain reference years in the future. The values of the payoff functions selected are then calculated for that reference case. The major resource and technology options are identified and the rates at which they can be implemented are determined. Finally, the impact on the various payoff functions of the implementation of each option is calculated. The basic element of the framework is the Reference Energy System, discussed in Secton 3. The energy policy analysis for Peru is used as a reference case. 11 references, 10 figures, 2 tables.

Purpose : The aims of this study were to investigate how a variety of research methods is commonly employed to studytechnology and practitioner cognition. User-interface issues with infusion pumps were selected as a case because of its relevance to patient safety. Methods : Starting from a Cognitiv

Purpose The aims of this study were to investigate how a variety of research methods is commonly employed to studytechnology and practitioner cognition. User-interface issues with infusion pumps were selected as a case because of its relevance to patient safety. Methods Starting from a Cognitive S

This article investigates the role of information communication technologies (ICTs) in establishing a well-aligned, authentic learning environment for a diverse cohort of non-cognate and cognate students studying event management in a higher education context. Based on a casestudy which examined the way ICTs assisted in accommodating diverse…

Objective: To report the processes and outcomes of a casestudy on digital technology, diabetes and culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities. Design: The qualitative study was based on a literature review, consultations and testing of a framework through workshops and an interactive information session. Setting: Consultations,…

This article investigates the role of information communication technologies (ICTs) in establishing a well-aligned, authentic learning environment for a diverse cohort of non-cognate and cognate students studying event management in a higher education context. Based on a casestudy which examined the way ICTs assisted in accommodating diverse…

In this paper we address the question whether fiscal incentives and regulation are the most appropriate tools to increase productivity in energy sector. Doubts exist about whether these are the most effective tools for improving productivity since changes in productivity are usually related to changes in technological progress. We use a vector autoregressive model to study this problem. Our purpose is to identify the shocks which induce movements in productivity, and to measure the productivi...

This study explores the mechanism on the co-evolution between emerging technology and capability.Our research focus is how the firms capabilities affect the evolution of emerging technology through strategy.Based on the theoretical analysis and casestudy,this paper builds a theoretical framework:firms capability is classified into static capability and dynamic capability,and the evolution of emerging technology is summarized by a cycle model.Further,strategy is looked as a mediated variable.The conclusion is that the static capability affects the emerging technology evolution through strategy implement,and the dynamic capability affects the evolution through strategy change.In both situations,organization learning is a key capability to the evolution of emerging technology.

Full Text Available This paper reports on the results of an investigation into the experiences of academically successful adult Māori students undertaking the Bachelor of Information Technology (BIT programme at the Waikato Institute of Technology (Wintec. This research looked at the participants\\' motivation for attending Wintec, the barriers (such as financial, social and family hardships they encountered as they made the transition back to full time study, and their experiences at Wintec. The paper considers the reasons why the participants have achieved well, identifies the support systems they called on, and explores the challenges that they experienced while studying in a tertiary learning environment. Its significance lies in the focus on factors that affect Māori academic success, specifically in information technology, so that teaching approaches and support systems, particularly in the institute of technology and polytechnic (ITP sector, can enhance the success of Māori in the field of IT.

networks ( Bryman , 1989:30). Furthermore, Yin indicates that the casestudy method is typically used in the following settings: 1) Policy, political...results of a single case as being representative of a wider population ( Bryman , 1989:172). Although a limitation, casestudies can be used effectively...as well as exploring areas to achieve new insights that are useful for building theory ( Bryman , 1989:173-174). Population The population of

Municipalities and regions in Sweden have an increasing need to purchase security technology to secure their properties and their operations. However this procurement process is strictly regulated by the Swedish procurement act (“Lagen om Offentlig Upphandling”, LoU), leading to a similar procurement process. However no academic studies have been done on the procurement of security technology in local authorities.This thesis explores and maps this process and the important aspects which affec...

This thesis sets out to explore the area of inward technology transfer and in particular the notion of "receptivity". A conceptual framework is developed which identifies four major components of the inward technology transfer process. These are: "Awareness"- "Association"-"Assimilation"-"Application". Using this conceptual device a series of investigations are undertaken into three of these components. These studies are conducted within a number of businesses within ICI Che...

Green technology is the development and application of products, equipment and systems used to conserve the environment which minimizes the negative impact from human activities. The technology can be in the form of green buildings or renewable energy such as hydro, solar and biogas. Development in SDC is still at the early stage, hence there is a prospect to plan for proper green concept implementation. With the increasing number of construction projects particularly in the rapid developing city of Kota Kinabalu, green technology as a whole is becoming more significant as it helps to develop effective solutions to encounter global environmental issues. Although there has been lengthy discussion on the green technology, the visibility of the implementation is still yet to be seen widely in Kota Kinabalu. The implementation of green technology in construction will support dynamic growth of economic development activities, while improving the environment. Hence, it is important to develop a strategic plan to promote the use of green technology while the areas are still developing. The focus of this correlative-based approach study is to investigate the perception and implementation of green technology in Kota Kinabalu from the industrial perspectives.

The problem addressed in this study is the willingness or reluctance of information technology (IT) knowledge workers and managers to share knowledge. The purpose of the study was to examine the willingness or unwillingness of technical personnel in IT to share technical knowledge and the issues surrounding their reluctance, if any. The study…

The unique technological functions of a weblog have earned it a growing reputation as a pedagogical tool for educators across fields of study. While using the blog as a communicative and pedagogical platform in two different graduate classes in Korea, this study explored the premise of a weblog as a place for networked individuality. The classes…

A casestudy of machine vision was conducted to identify and analyze the employment effects of high technology in general. (Machine vision is the automatic acquisition and analysis of an image to obtain desired information for use in controlling an industrial activity, such as the visual sensor system that gives eyes to a robot.) Machine vision as…

This qualitative casestudy investigates Chinese university English in the context of foreign language (EFL) learners' attitudes about video-aided instruction (VAI), video recording instruction, and mobile phone instruction (learning technologies). When I was working as an English teacher in Mainland China, several instructors and students stated…

Organizational learning (OL) is about how individuals collect, absorb, and transform information into organizational memory and knowledge. This casestudy explored how six high-technology firms in Taiwan chose OL as an organization development intervention strategy. Issues included how best to implement OL; how individuals, teams, and…

The market of mobile technologies has considerably increased in the past few years and the costs have consequently decreased. This rapid technological evolution can be seen in two different ways from the perspective of people with disability: on the one side it represents a great opportunity to create new solutions for improving independence; on the other it may represent a source of social exclusion if appropriate assistive solutions are not available to make technology usable by people with disability. This paper describe three casestudies of persons with disabilities that have undergone an Assistive Technology assessment at the DAT service of Fondazione Don Gnocchi (Milan, Italy) involving the use of mobile ICT based Assistive Technologies. In all the three cases the appropriate solution for performing the desired activities is represented by a combination of mainstream products and assistive products. The three use cases described support the idea that mobile technologies can be powerful and versatile instruments to create assistive solutions for improving independence in daily life.

Full Text Available To date, the role of technology management as a factor of success in technological innovation has been a subject of significant interest among practitioners and academicians. Despite the plethora of attention given to the numerous issues of management of new technology adoption and implementation, many organizations still fail to manage their technology efficiently, effectively, and strategically. This paper is based on a field investigation via face to face interviews with top management in East Java involving medium and large manufacturing companies from the tobacco, plastic, pulp, furniture, textile, cable and plywood sectors. This research seeks to investigate the extent of technology adoption and its management in medium and large Indonesian manufacturing companies. Further, this study investigates the technology benefits perceived by respondents. The study found that: (1 Indonesian manufacturing companies still lack a strategic perspective when adopting technologies and they are more concerned with short-term issues; (2 they face problems related to people, organizational issues, limited budgets and lack of government support; (3 these problems limit the choice of technologies and together with the national economic situation, reinforces the short-term mindset of top management. In addition, the investigation of critical success factors and inhibitors of technology adoption is necessary for identification of a proper vision and strategic viewpoint of managing new technology. Abstract in Bahasa Indonesia : Sampai sekarang, peranan manajemen teknologi sebagai factor keberhasilan dalam inovasi teknologi menjadi topik yang menarik perhatian para praktisis maupun akademisi. Walaupun masalah-masalah manajemen teknologi dan implementasinya telah banyak diperhatikan, masih ada banyak perusahaan yang belum mampu mengatur teknologi secara efisien, secara efektif atau dengan strategi yang tepat. Makalah ini dibuat berdasarkan survei lapangan yang

Full Text Available This study analyzes the technological capability upgrading and entrepreneurship in the Indonesian fish processing industry. The analysis viewed from the Sectoral Innovation System (SIS focuses on two aspects: the enabling factors for innovation, and the role of entrepreneur in technological capability upgrading. The study finds that Indonesian fish processing companies: (i are less interactive with local universities or other STI (science, technology and innovation centers, and innovation was mostly done through learning by DUI (doing, using and interacting; (ii are characterized as low-tech industries with a high standard for food safety and product differentiation; (iii apply adaptive innovation, modified from existing technology or knowledge, except for the leading companies who apply innovation for new products in the market; (iv actors, technology, market trends, and networks are the main enabling factors for innovation; and (v the role of entrepreneurs – especially in building entrepreneurial networks – were dominant in the leading companies. The entrepreneurial networks exist and work in global distribution chains that are widely adopted by companies to export their products through buyer–producer relationships. The pathways toward export markets are: global born directly, fastly learned global, and delay learned global companies. These categories have enriched the Mets category (2012. The policy implications of the findings for government should: (i facilitate companies’ interaction with local universities or other STI centers; and (ii encourage domestic companies to improve their competitiveness by shifting to higher added value products through various innovations and trading policy schemes.

.... The enterprise where this casestudy occurs is inserted in this context. Associated to this process, it has also to attend the unification strategy in the information processing net of the group as a whole.

A major challenge for Information Technology (IT) programs is that the rapid pace of evolution of computing technology leads to frequent redesign of IT courses. The problem is exacerbated by several factors. Firstly, the changing technology is the subject matter of the discipline and is also frequently used to support instruction; secondly, this…

Purpose: This study aims to examine the experience of 31 university students who were issued tablet PCs for their use during an academic year. The primary research problem which drove this project revolved around the student perceptions of the benefits of technology to provide opportunities to restructure their learning experiences.…

A longitudinal study of information technology (IT) managers at a Fortune 200 company in the Southwest United States was conducted to assess the effectiveness of a training program at bridging the perceived business skills gap for IT employees. A needs assessment was carried out, resulting in a 4-module training program. The program was evaluated…

As clientele needs diversify, Extension educators are examining new technologies, including online tools, to deliver educational programming and resources. Using agritourism as the educational topic, the study reported here sought to evaluate participants' acceptance of online educational programming (webinars) and the effectiveness of the…

The aim of this study is to investigate perceptions of parents in Croatia towards advantages and disadvantages of computer use in general as well as their children's computer use and to reveal parents' concerns and opinions about digital technology (DT) education in kindergarten. The paper reports on research findings from one of the large public…

The main objective of this study was to determine the attitude of farmers towards erosion and the adoption of appropriate soil conservation technologies (SCTs). For the survey, farmers were selected from the communities Esa Oke, Elwure and Owode-Ede and Akoda in Osun State in Nigeria. In the first three communities farmers did receive training on…

A longitudinal study of information technology (IT) managers at a Fortune 200 company in the Southwest United States was conducted to assess the effectiveness of a training program at bridging the perceived business skills gap for IT employees. A needs assessment was carried out, resulting in a 4-module training program. The program was evaluated…

The objective of this study is to test and validate a Process Analytical Technology (PAT) system design on a potassium dichromate crystallization process in the presence of input uncertainties using uncertainty and sensitivity analysis. To this end a systematic framework for managing uncertaintie...

UNDERSTANDING INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY INVESTMENT DECISION-MAKING IN THE CONTEXT OF HOTEL GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION SYSTEMS: A MULTIPLE-CASESTUDY by Daniel J. Connolly Dr. Michael D. Olsen, Chair Department of Hospitality and Tourism Management ABSTRACT This study investigates what three large, multinational hospitality companies do in practice when evaluating and making IT investment decisions. This study was launched in an attempt to 1) learn more about ...

Use cases, information modeling, and linked data techniques are Semantic Web technologies used to develop a prototype system that integrates scientific observations from four independent USGS and cooperator data systems. The techniques were tested with a use case goal of creating a data set for use in exploring potential relationships among freshwater fish populations and environmental factors. The resulting prototype extracts data from the BioData Retrieval System, the Multistate Aquatic Resource Information System, the National Geochemical Survey, and the National Hydrography Dataset. A prototype user interface allows a scientist to select observations from these data systems and combine them into a single data set in RDF format that includes explicitly defined relationships and data definitions. The project was funded by the USGS Community for Data Integration and undertaken by the Community for Data Integration Semantic Web Working Group in order to demonstrate use of Semantic Web technologies by scientists. This allows scientists to simultaneously explore data that are available in multiple, disparate systems beyond those they traditionally have used.

Nowadays, information technology attitudes as the beneficial part of industry, economic and culture. Accounting posits as profession that provide information for decision- making of users and in the complex world, organizations must use information technology to present information for users in time. This research is by purpose of studying impact of organizational factors in information technology acceptance by use of TAM model in study descriptive-surveying method that researcher has used to...

Full Text Available IT Department in PT MCM has to carry out the duties and functions of developing solution to support the business unit in their operation and gain some benefits which should be obtained by using IT in manufacturing such as increasing efficiency, improving the effectivity in making decision and helping to promote the products. This study aims to design information technology strategic planning in accordance with the strategic plan. The research method is using the IT Strategic Planning framework of Alex Cullen and Marc Cecere. This study uses SWOT and IT Balanced Scorecard to analyze the needs of IT at PT MCM. The results of this study are recommended strategic steps to optimize the implementation of IT in the company to improve the performance from IT division to obtain the benefits by implementing IT in manufacturing and to form IT Blueprint, which is part of the information technology strategic plan in PT MCM.

Full Text Available The present study aims at investigating the educational technology use of teacher candidates attending education faculties in Turkey in terms of NETS*T standards. The study employed 2.566 senior teacher candidates from 7 different universities in Turkey. As a result of the study, it was revealed that the teacher candidates considered themselves to have a high level of self-efficacy with respect to educational technology standards as a whole. Considering the factors, teacher candidates reported the highest level of self-efficacy for the factor of productivity and professional practices and the lowest level of f-self-efficacy for the factor of social, ethical, legal and human issues. Gender caused differences for certain factors. In addition, the department being attended was another variable that resulted in difference when the departments of the teacher candidates were taken into consideration.

Full Text Available The present study aims at investigating the educational technology use of teacher candidates attending education faculties in Turkey in terms of NETS*T standards. The study employed 2.566 senior teacher candidates from 7 different universities in Turkey. As a result of the study, it was revealed that the teacher candidates considered themselves to have a high level of self-efficacy with respect to educational technology standards as a whole. Considering the factors, teacher candidates reported the highest level of self-efficacy for the factor of productivity and professional practices and the lowest level of f-self-efficacy for the factor of social, ethical, legal and human issues. Gender caused differences for certain factors. In addition, the department being attended was another variable that resulted in difference when the departments of the teacher candidates were taken into consideration.

Many predicted that in the latter part of the twentieth century modern technology would revolutionize higher education and "create a second Renaissance" (Sculley J. The relationship between business and higher education: A perspective on the 21st century. Commun ACM32:1056-1061, 1989 p1061). However, as the reality of the twenty-first century has set in, it is apparent that these revolutionary prophecies have fallen short. Using the lens of Douglas's Typology of Grid and Group, this casestudy examines (1) the organizational context of a veterinary medical college at a large Midwestern university; (2) individual faculty members' preferences toward instructional technology use; and (3) the interrelationship of culture and the decision process to implement instructional technology use in curricula. The study has several implications for instructional technology use in veterinary medical educational settings that help explain how cultural context can guide leadership decisions as well as influence faculty motivation and preference. The findings suggest that a key mitigating factor to instructional technology implementation is conflict or concord between the cultural biases of faculty members and actual cultural identity of the college (Stansberry S, Harris EL. Understanding why faculty use (or don't use) IT: Implementation of instructional technology from an organizational culture perspective. In Simonson M, Crawford M, eds. 25th Annual Proceedings: Selected Research and Development Papers Presented at the 2002 National Convention of the Association for Educational Communications and Technology, vol. 1. North Miami Beach, FL: Nova Southeastern University:viii, 507).

Full Text Available Cloud Computing Technology is perceived by many as a new asset of Information technology for the IT companies, educational institutions, government sectors, etc. In the ever fast growing economy apart from the challenges faced due to recession, the educational institutes find this a big hurdle as to how to provide necessary Information technology support for educational activities and research areas. Cloud Computing, the latest buzzword in IT sector, may come to the rescue, as it can provide an easy and inexpensive access to the state of the art IT technology, software and its applications. Cloud computing is a recent concept that is still evolving across the information technology industry and academia. Cloud computing is Internet (cloud based development and use of computer technology whereby dynamically scalable and often virtualized resources are provided as a service over the Internet. The main aims & Objectives of this research paper is to study the factors which affect the adoption of Cloud Computing Technology in a technical educational institutions, a casestudy of Engineering colleges in Meerut city(UP.. Questionnaire was used a data collection tool and the results were analyzed by SPSS & R program for statistical analysis

Study investigated how new technology affects the working procedures and mental activity of industrial machinists, examining how machinists learn to use computer numerical control technology. Results indicate areas of cognitive difference requiring further study (e.g., differences in conceptualization, formalization, and perspective, and shifts to…

Finding measures to enhance the dissemination and implementation of their recommendations has become part of most health technology assessment (HTA) bodies' preoccupations. The Quebec government HTA organization in Canada observed that some of its projects relied on innovative practices in knowledge production and dissemination. A research was commissioned in order to identify what characterized these practices and to establish whether they could be systematized. An exploratory casestudy was conducted during summer and fall 2010 in the HTA agency in order to determine what made the specificity of its context, and to conceptualize an approach to knowledge production and dissemination that was adapted to the mandate and nature of this form of HTA organization. Six projects were selected. For each, the HTA report and complementary documents were analyzed, and semi-structured interviews were carried out. A narrative literature review of the most recent literature reviews of the principal knowledge into practice frameworks (2005-2010) and of articles describing such frameworks (2000-2010) was undertaken. Our observations highlighted an inherent difficulty as regards applying the dominant knowledge translation models to HTA and clinical guidance practices. For the latter, the whole process starts with an evaluation question asked in a problematic situation for which an actionable answer is expected. The objective is to produce the evidence necessary to respond to the decision-maker's request. The practices we have analyzed revealed an approach to knowledge production and dissemination, which was multidimensional, organic, multidirectional, dynamic, and dependent on interactions with stakeholders. Thus, HTA could be considered as a knowledge mobilization process per se. HTA's purpose is to solve a problem by mobilizing the types of evidence required and the concerned actors, in order to support political, organizational or clinical decision-making. HTA relies on the

The purpose of this casestudy was to determine the nature of conversations that occur within an organizational microblog and compare them to traditional informal conversations. Since informal conversations are closely associated with reaction to change, this study explored how organizational microblog conversations may be understood to affect…

The purpose of this casestudy was to determine the nature of conversations that occur within an organizational microblog and compare them to traditional informal conversations. Since informal conversations are closely associated with reaction to change, this study explored how organizational microblog conversations may be understood to affect…

This dissertation describes a qualitative casestudy that investigated novice teachers' video-aided reflection on their own teaching. To date, most studies that have investigated novice teachers' video-aided reflective practice have focused on examining novice teachers' levels of reflective writing rather than the cognitive…

This dissertation describes a qualitative casestudy that investigated novice teachers' video-aided reflection on their own teaching. To date, most studies that have investigated novice teachers' video-aided reflective practice have focused on examining novice teachers' levels of reflective writing rather than the cognitive…

A casestudy of the production, sales, and marketing of spices by one of the major spice companies in Great Britain might be useful for business economics or industrial studies. Particular attention is paid to changing consumer preferences for spices and the company's response to those changes. (Author/IS)

Full Text Available Tourism has a basic role within economy but also within a country and within the human social assembly. In the course of time, tourism services have become the key component of tourism activity, therefore a detailed attention has been provided to the units supplying tourism services, but especially to hotels and factors that can influence competitiveness of these units. One of the characteristic elements that contribute to getting the competitive advantage is represented by information technologies. Therefore, this paper has as general scope, presentation of the main factors that define information technology in hotels in Mures County and distribution of hotels according with implementation of information technology. On this line, I have used enquiry as the research method, and questionnaire as a working tool, this being administered to all the hotel managers in Mures County. The study results are highly important for theoreticians and practitioners as well, allowing the achievement of a frame related to the development way of information technologies in hotels.

Full Text Available Life cycle theory has been shown to be an important explanation of the relationship between sales and stock prices. This study explores how the technology company Logitech attempted a transition from a mature life-cycle company in computer peripherals to a growth company in the music, tablet, and gaming industries. We show that stock price correlates with accounting performance differently across the company’s life cycle.

Full Text Available Abstract The escalation of Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ARTs in India into a veritable fertility industry is the result of a multitude of reasons. This paper places the bio-genetic industry within the larger political economy framework of globalisation and privatisation, thus employing a framework that is often omitted from discussions on ARTs, but has direct and significant bearings on the ART industry in India. As markets for human organs, tissues and reproductive body parts experience unprecedented growth, the limits of what can or should be bought and sold continue to be pushed. As such, bodies have emerged as sale-worthy economic capital. Commercial flows of reproductive material create and deploy the division of the body into parts over which ownership is claimed, in the process following 'modern routes of capital' and raising issues of structural inequality. This paper presents a brief picture of India's fertility industry with specific focus on its ground-level operation, nature and growth. It aims to explore the industry dimensions of ARTs, by highlighting the macro picture of health care markets and medical tourism in India, the proliferation of the ART industry, market features such as the social imperative to mother, costs, promotion and marketing, unverified claims, inflated success rates, deals and offers, actors and collaborations in the field, and finally, the absence of standards. This paper presents findings from the research 'Constructing Conceptions: The Mapping of Assisted Reproductive Technologies in India', by Sama, a Delhi-based resource group working on gender, health and rights. This research was conducted from 2008 to 2010 in the three states of Uttar Pradesh, Orissa and Tamil Nadu in India, and is one of the first of its kind, highlighting unethical medical practices and making a case for the regulation of the ART industry. As such, it forms a significant part of Sama's ongoing work on women and technologies

The escalation of Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ARTs) in India into a veritable fertility industry is the result of a multitude of reasons. This paper places the bio-genetic industry within the larger political economy framework of globalisation and privatisation, thus employing a framework that is often omitted from discussions on ARTs, but has direct and significant bearings on the ART industry in India. As markets for human organs, tissues and reproductive body parts experience unprecedented growth, the limits of what can or should be bought and sold continue to be pushed. As such, bodies have emerged as sale-worthy economic capital. Commercial flows of reproductive material create and deploy the division of the body into parts over which ownership is claimed, in the process following 'modern routes of capital' and raising issues of structural inequality.This paper presents a brief picture of India's fertility industry with specific focus on its ground-level operation, nature and growth. It aims to explore the industry dimensions of ARTs, by highlighting the macro picture of health care markets and medical tourism in India, the proliferation of the ART industry, market features such as the social imperative to mother, costs, promotion and marketing, unverified claims, inflated success rates, deals and offers, actors and collaborations in the field, and finally, the absence of standards. This paper presents findings from the research 'Constructing Conceptions: The Mapping of Assisted Reproductive Technologies in India', by Sama, a Delhi-based resource group working on gender, health and rights. This research was conducted from 2008 to 2010 in the three states of Uttar Pradesh, Orissa and Tamil Nadu in India, and is one of the first of its kind, highlighting unethical medical practices and making a case for the regulation of the ART industry. As such, it forms a significant part of Sama's ongoing work on women and technologies, particularly policy

This publication is one in series of casestudies for "Laboratories for the 21st Century," a joint program of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy Federal Energy Management Program. It is intended for those who plan to design and construct public and private-sector laboratory buildings. This casestudy describes the Science and Technology Facility, a new laboratory at NREL that incorporated energy-efficient and sustainable design features including underfloor air distribution in offices, daylighting, and process cooling.

Starting with Feynman's "There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom" prophetic lecture at Caltech in the 1960s, the term "nanotechnology" was first coined in the scientific literature in the 1980s. This was followed by the unprecedented growth in the corresponding scientific field in 2000 due to the financial incentive provided by President Clinton in the US, followed up by similar efforts in Europe, Japan, China and Russia. Today, nanotechnology has become a driving force for economic development, with applications in all fields of engineering, information technology, transport and energy, as well as biology and medicine. Thus, it is important to forecast its future growth and evolution on the basis of two different criteria: (1) the government and private capital invested in related activities, and (2) the number of scientific publications and popular articles dedicated to this field. This article aims to extract forecasts on the evolution of nanotechnology, using the standard logistic equation that result in familiar sigmoid curves, as well as to explore the effect of time delay on its evolution. Time delay is commonly known from previous biological and ecological models, in which time lag is either already known or can be experimentally measured. In contrast, in the case of a new technology, we must first define the method for determining time delay and then interpret its existence and role. Then we describe the implications that time delay may have on the stability of the sigmoidal behavior of nanotechnology evolution and on the related oscillations that may appear.

Full Text Available High-technology industries provide opportunities for economic growth, but also raise concerns because of their energy-demanding nature. This paper provides an integrated evaluation of both economic benefits and energy efficiency of high-technology industries based on the real data from one of the globally recognized high-technology industrial clusters, the national science parks in Taiwan. A nation-wide industrial Input-Output Analysis is conducted to demonstrate the positive effects of science parks on national economic developments and industrial upgrades. The concept of energy intensity and an energy-efficient economy index are applied to an integrated assessment of the relationship between economic growth and energy consumption. The proposed casestudy suggests that economic and energy efficiency objectives can be simultaneously achieved by the development of high-technology industries, while three energy policy implications are considered. First, a nation-wide macro viewpoint is needed and high-technology industries should be considered as parts of the national/regional economies by governmental agencies. Second, a proper industrial clustering mechanism and the shared environmental facilities supported by the government, such as planned land and road usage, electricity and water supply, telecommunications system, sewerage system and wastewater treatments, can improve energy efficiency of high-technology industries. Third, the governmental policies on the taxing and management system in science parks would also direct energy-efficient economy of high-technology industries.

This paper presents a case history concerning the application of dual phase vacuum extraction (DPVE) technology for the remediation of subsurface petroleum hydrocarbon (PHC) contamination in silty soils at a service station site located in Vancouver, British Columbia. It also summarized the design and performance monitoring results for the site, in conjunction with the performance monitoring results from similar DPVE systems in operation at 7 other sites in western Canada. Each of these sites is underlain by both fine-grained and coarser grained sandy soils. The study offers useful design guidance and insight on the practical limitations of DPVE technology for PHC remediation. 2 refs., 6 tabs., 4 figs.

develop theories and provide insight into an uncharted area of study ( Bryman , 1989:174). This research design, as noted by Kervin, involves the...often characterize qualitative research ( Bryman , 1989:173,178). A final advantage of the casestudy method is that it is used to develop hypotheses for...November 1992). Bryman , Alan. Research Methods and Organizational Studies. Winchester MA: Unwin Hyman Inc., 1989. Chapman, Richard L. "The Federal

Electronic Government (eG) has become a vital tool to serve the beneficiaries; therefore, it has received the attention of many Information System (IS) researchers. Due to the importance of the sustainability of IS, this paper identifies the emergence of a clear gape to measure the sustainability of IS in risky circumstances, such as wars, conflicts and violence; nowadays, the risky issue is increasing remarkably. This paper expands previous studies whose focus was on investigating the sustainability of electronic services unsecured countries in the world. Consequently, a need for a specific tool to measure the sustainability of technology among the users in risky conditions has become urgent. Based on the findings, it can be confirmed that this instrument is reliable to measure the sustainability of technology in risky environments.

In recent years, there has been a significant increase in the demand from professionals in different areas for improving the curricula regarding information security. The use of authentic casestudies in teaching information security offers the potential to effectively engage students in active learning. In this paper, the authors introduce the…

This casestudy describes the construction of a new test home that demonstrates current best practices for the mixed-humid climate, including a high performance ground source heat pump for heating and cooling, a building envelope featuring advanced air sealing details and low-density spray foam insulation, and glazing that exceeds ENERGY STAR requirements.

In recent years, there has been a significant increase in the demand from professionals in different areas for improving the curricula regarding information security. The use of authentic casestudies in teaching information security offers the potential to effectively engage students in active learning. In this paper, the authors introduce the…

This casestudy by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Building America research team Building Science Corporation is a test implementation of an unvented tile roof assembly in a hot-humid climate (Orlando, Florida; zone 2A), insulated with air-permeable insulation (netted and blown fiberglass).

The case-study aims to examine the effectiveness of training of morphological structure on the spelling of compounds by a spelling-disabled primary school student. The experimental design of the intervention was based on the word-pair paradigm and included a pre-test, a training program and a post-test (n = 50 pairs). The Training Program aimed to…

Full Text Available This study it has the objective to evaluate the global index of sustentability (IGS of the technology of production of the cotton colored in the state of the Paraíba, in its dimensions social, ambient, economic and institucional. To reach the considered objective a research of study of case was used based on the model considered for González and Carvajal (2002 that it measures the IGS of the producing unit in agroecological system. The results disclose that although to present a considered index of sustentability satisfactory, are necessary that mechanism of participation of the social actors in the decisions of the company is developed, as well as, to develop a research on the repercussion that this technology brings for the involved population, also identifying the social demand of the deriving products of the technology of the cotton in the population.

Full Text Available This investigation is framed in the analysis of impacts in the local development starting from the taking of decisions on projects of rural energy in Cuban communities that have as economic main activity the agricultural sector, illustrated the results of a casestudy where the technological most viable options are selected under the optics of the improvement of indicators of community resources. The methods and used materials are characteristic of a field work with application model are characterized for the taking of decisions in the energy area and their sources SURE, as geographical region the community isolated rural “Manantiales” linked to the agrarian sector in the republic of Cuba and the present period review in the thematic one approached. The main indicators are sketched in each resource of the rural community under the optics of the SURE in their version 3.0, as well the characterization of the prediction of the impacts at each technological option on the resources, is exhibited a mean of impacts and the classification of the technologies according to the level of achievements contribute to the indicators of community resources, obtaining as a result that the hydro energy technology is the most viable option with a value of 100 points in the scale from 0 to 100, followed by the GRID with 91.11 and of the photovoltaic systems based on silicon panels with 90.57, in this case all technologies contribute a significant level of achievements to the local community development.

Technology transfer is vital to humanity. It spurs innovation, promotes commerce, and provides technology-based goods and services. Technology transfer is also highly complex and interdependent in nature. This interdependence is exemplified principally by the various technology transfer interactions between government, industry, and academia. …

Technology transfer is vital to humanity. It spurs innovation, promotes commerce, and provides technology-based goods and services. Technology transfer is also highly complex and interdependent in nature. This interdependence is exemplified principally by the various technology transfer interactions between government, industry, and academia. …

The present scenario of the INDEST Consortium among engineering, science and technology (including astronomy and astrophysics) libraries in India is discussed. The Indian National Digital Library in Engineering Sciences & Technology (INDEST) Consortium is a major initiative of the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India. The INDEST Consortium provides access to 16 full text e-resources and 7 bibliographic databases for 166 institutions as members who are taking advantage of cost effective access to premier resources in engineering, science and technology, including astronomy and astrophysics. Member institutions can access over 6500 e-journals from 1092 publishers. Out of these, over 150 e-journals are exclusively for the astronomy and physics community. The current study also presents a comparative analysis of the key features of nine major services, viz. ACM Digital Library, ASCE Journals, ASME Journals, EBSCO Databases (Business Source Premier), Elsevier's Science Direct, Emerald Full Text, IEEE/IEE Electronic Library Online (IEL), ProQuest ABI/INFORM and Springer Verlag's Link. In this paper, the limitations of this consortium are also discussed.

The purpose of this single casestudy is to describe and document the implementation of a 1:1 laptop program for a middle school with a unique school-university partnership. The goal of this study is two-fold; one being to describe the implementation of a 1:1 laptop program and to document the lessons learned in leading a 1:1 laptop program. This…

The objective of this study is to test and validate a Process Analytical Technology (PAT) system design on a potassium dichromate crystallization process in the presence of input uncertainties using uncertainty and sensitivity analysis. To this end a systematic framework for managing uncertainties...... in the nucleation and crystal growth parameters affect the product-process performances (e.g. crystal size distribution (CSD)). Analysis of the proposed PAT system design (closedloop), on the other hand, shows that the effect of the input uncertainties on the outputs (product quality) is minimized, and the target...

Sanitation and wastewater management problems in small and medium towns in India (referred to as "semi-urban areas"--SUAs) are distinctly different from those of large cities or rural villages. There is an apparent lack of choices of appropriate sanitation options for these semi-urban areas, leading them to adopt on-site sanitation technologies. A field study of four such small towns in India was conducted to evaluate the suitability of available low-cost wastewater collection and treatment technologies, in light of their current practice. Based on the field study, this paper suggests a system comprising "combined surface sewers" and "reed-bed channel" for collection and treatment of wastewater for semi-urban areas, that can utilize all the existing infrastructure to effect better sanitation at lower costs. The suggested system involves converting the existing open wastewater collection drains on the road sides, as "decentralized" networks of covered drains with simple structural modifications to collect both wastewater and stormwater; and, converting the large open drains on the outskirts of SUAs that carry wastewater to agricultural fields, as gravel media filled beds planted with local reeds. Cost estimates for the towns studied indicate this system to be over 70% cheaper compared to conventional collection and treatment systems.

Accelerated soil erosion in Malawi, Southern Africa, increasingly threatens agricultural productivity, given current and projected population growth trends. Previous attempts to document soil erosion potential have had limited success, lacking appropriate information and diagnostic tools. This study utilized geomatics technologies and the latest available information from topography, soils, climate, vegetation, and land use of a watershed in southern Malawi. The Soil Loss Estimation Model for Southern Africa (SLEMSA), developed for conditions in Zimbabwe, was evaluated and used to create a soil erosion hazard map for the watershed under Malawi conditions. The SLEMSA sub-models of cover, soil loss, and topography were computed from energy interception, rainfall energy, and soil erodibility, and slope length and steepness, respectively. Geomatics technologies including remote sensing and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) provided the tools with which land cover/land use, a digital elevation model, and slope length and steepness were extracted and integrated with rainfall and soils spatial information. Geomatics technologies enable rapid update of the model as new and better data sets become available. Sensitivity analyses of the SLEMSA model revealed that rainfall energy and slope steepness have the greatest influence on soil erosion hazard estimates in this watershed. Energy interception was intermediate in sensitivity level, whereas slope length and soil erodibility ranked lowest. Energy interception and soil erodibility were shown by parameter behavior analysis to behave in a linear fashion with respect to soil erosion hazard, whereas rainfall energy, slope steepness, and slope length exhibit non-linear behavior. When SLEMSA input parameters and results were compared to alternative methods of soil erosion assessment, such as drainage density and drainage texture, the model provided more spatially explicit information using 30 meter grid cells. Results of this

A number of broad perspective technology roadmaps have been developed in the last few years as tools for coordinating nation-wide research in targeted areas. These roadmaps share a common characteristic of coalescing the associated stakeholder groups into a special-interest community that is willing to work cooperatively in achieving the roadmap goals. These communities are key to roadmap implementation as they provide the collaborative energy necessary to obtain the political support and funding required for identified science and technology development efforts. This paper discusses the relationship between roadmaps and special-interest communities, using the recently drafted Department of Energy's Long-Term Stewardship Science and Technology Roadmap as a casestudy. Specific aspects this roadmap's design facilitated the development of a long-term stewardship community while specific realities during roadmap development impacted the realization of the design.

The main purpose of this paper is to provide an understanding, within the field of corporate entrepreneurship, of the various factors that enable technology entrepreneurship in established firms and its principal effects on customers and society. The paper reports on a casestudy regarding technology entrepreneurship in a Spanish company whose activity is pharmaceutical distribution. This company has been able to overcome the consequences of the worldwide crisis and start an innovative process which includes the installation of new information technology (IT) and an investment of 6 million Euros. It is, in this respect, a model to imitate and the objective of this paper is therefore to discover the managers' entrepreneurial orientation (EO) characteristics which have made this possible, along with the organizational and social effects resulting from the process. We verify that EO is present in this company and that the development of new IT has important effects on customers and the population.

The main purpose of this paper is to provide an understanding, within the field of corporate entrepreneurship, of the various factors that enable technology entrepreneurship in established firms and its principal effects on customers and society. The paper reports on a casestudy regarding technology entrepreneurship in a Spanish company whose activity is pharmaceutical distribution. This company has been able to overcome the consequences of the worldwide crisis and start an innovative process which includes the installation of new information technology (IT) and an investment of 6 million Euros. It is, in this respect, a model to imitate and the objective of this paper is therefore to discover the managers’ entrepreneurial orientation (EO) characteristics which have made this possible, along with the organizational and social effects resulting from the process. We verify that EO is present in this company and that the development of new IT has important effects on customers and the population. PMID:27445938

It is a common sense that enterprise is the principal of endogenous innovation, but why many firms do not innovate actively? What kind of difficulty will enterprises suffer in endogenous innovation? What can the government do for the endogenous innovation? These questions are very crucial to realize endogenous innovation. This paper tries to answer the questions mentioned above from the perspective of technology evolution. The industrial environment of emerging technology is emphasized for analyzing the endogenous innovation in Chinese enterprises. The process of endogenous innovation in NanShanBridge Co. Ltd (NSBIC),which is an IC design firm, is analyzed as a case. From the casestudy, we can answer the questions above in certain extent, give some suggestions to the enterprises as a later-comer, and present some advice to government.

This paper presents a casestudy of online learning. It is based on the researcher’s participation in an inter-university collaborative module at two higher education institutions in South Africa and the United States from August to December 2001. The paper addresses the advantages and disadvantages of the online learning environment and learning in a Virtual Classroom. It provides a critical interpretation of the virtual classroom experienced in this collaboration between institutions. It fi...

This casestudy is the result of a project conducted on behalf of a company that uses its own returnable containers to transport purchased parts from suppliers. The objective of this project was to develop a proposal to enable the company to more effectively track and manage its returnable containers. The research activities in support of this project included (1) the analysis and documentation of the physical flow and the information flow associated with the container...

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Environmental Technology Verification (ETV) Program evaluates the performance of innovative air, water, pollution prevention and monitoring technologies that have the potential to improve human health and the environment. This bookle...

To realise future energy saving targets, the government needs to increase energy reduction rates. One option to increase energy savings is found in removing barriers to investments in cost-effective energy saving technologies. Many technologies save energ

This paper is motivated by two broad questions: how is technology transferred from academia to non-academic domains, and how well do facts within these technologies travel? These questions are explored in the context of a particular extension education program in Tamil Nadu, south India. The paper explores the extent to which fertigation technologies (drip irrigation) and other farm and postharvest technologies travelled from the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University to the farming community in ...

In today's Department of Defense (DoD) environment, more emphasis is being placed on using computing resources to receive and process information. Local area networks (LANs) are used to access these computing resources by users. As new resources are added to networks, an effective mechanism is required to transfer this technology to the users. The effective transfer of technology requires user awareness of the technology and the ability of the user to use the technology. NA NA U.S. N...

Full Text Available As a consequence of technological innovations and their social utilisation, media organisations and newsrooms are undergoing a fundamental transformation process. This article analyses the interrelations between technological innovations and the challenges of convergent journalism. Studies conducted on newsroom convergence to date set out from one-sided influences: They investigated the extent to which technical innovations determine the newsrooms, or whether journalistic structures and long-range trends are so strong as to largely obstruct the adoption of new technologies in journalism. Therefore technology — especially in studies carried out on newsroom convergence — is considered as an influencing factor on somehow resisting or non-resisting newsrooms. We broaden the scope of this investigation by considering that any such influence might not come exclusively from technology, but that impulses can come also from innovative newsrooms: technological gaps, wishes and obstacles are identified from the journalist's viewpoint and brought to the attention of the developers of newsroom technologies — on the basis of empirical research findings from a casestudy of Bavaria’s public broadcasting service, Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR. With its 5.000 employees, BR is one of Germany's largest media organisations. It is undergoing a fundamental and long-term convergence process. A variety of gaps, problems and wishes came to light from 25 in-depth interviews with journalists working on innovative projects. For example, criticism is expressed of complicated, partly unknown or non-existent networking of cross-media production systems. There is a desire for the increased use of consumer devices like smartphones in professional news production. There exists a creative potential for innovative solutions, but these are not comprehensively evaluated. To date, there has been no systematic implementation of the findings of innovative media projects in everyday

Aim/Purpose: This paper utilizes the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) to examine the extent to which acceptance of Remote Virtual Computer Laboratories (RVCLs) is affected by students' technological backgrounds and the role of collaborative work. Background: RVCLs are widely used in information technology and cyber security education to provide…

Very little is known about how teachers' "conceptualizations" of digital technology and their "uses" of the technology evolve and relate. Yet knowing about and understanding teachers' conceptions and uses of digital technology are essential for learning how teachers integrate it effectively for student learning. By applying…

As digital technologies permeate every aspect of our lives, the complexity of the educational settings, and of the technological support we use within them, unceasingly rises. This increased complexity, along with the need for educational practitioners to apply such technologies within multi-constraint authentic settings, has given rise to the…

Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, a local university that has become a leading technological institution, will be instrumental in promoting and developing technology to achieve Malaysia's national objective of becoming a developed country by the year 2020. Efforts include development of technology curricula, research and development, cooperation with…

Aim/Purpose: This paper utilizes the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) to examine the extent to which acceptance of Remote Virtual Computer Laboratories (RVCLs) is affected by students' technological backgrounds and the role of collaborative work. Background: RVCLs are widely used in information technology and cyber security education to provide…

Nowadays, the development of Digital Earth has made a tremendous impact on all aspects of human social life, and a series of effective work around Digital Earth, which attracted wide attention, have been carried out by people with different background. Meantime, exploitation of the popularized technology is constantly being mature with the development of Google Earth. However, users still have many difficulties in constructing and operating 3D scenes on web, because of the limitation of network speed. This paper aims to provide a more convenient method for the client users to interact with the 3D models, thus to promote popularization of Digital Earth technology and apply it in many aspects of social life. In this research, Ajax was utilized as a newly emerged network technology, since it could provide a good solution for application in developing of virtual reality technology based on Web. This paper analyzed the principles and key technologies of Ajax, explored how Ajax can be used in construction of interactive virtual reality scenes through casestudy, in order to enhance access speed of virtual scenes on Web page, and increase the authenticity, interactivity and extensibility of virtual scenes. This paper introduced the whole process of virtual model construction and proposed an efficient way to achieve interactive scene. The results showed that the combination of SAI (Scene Access Interface) method and Ajax technology could effectively save network bandwidth and enhance user experience, which laid the foundation for the development of virtual reality technology based on Web and the popularization of Digital Earth technology.

The use of information and communication technology (ICT) to support integrated healthcare services in elderly homecare is becoming more established. In particular, ICT can enable information exchange, knowledge sharing and documentation at the point-of-care (POC). The aim of this study was to explore these effects using the Old@Home prototype. Old@Home was perceived to contribute in developing horizontal links for communication between individuals who work together, independent of geographical distance or organizational affiliation, and to contribute to increased work efficiency. The prototype was further seen to reduce professional isolation by providing a holistic overview of the care process. User centred design and implementation of Old@Home was considered key to facilitating acceptance of organizational changes. Participation of care professionals not only led to a better understanding of the needs of involved organizations, but also increased end-users' involvement and commitment, stimulating them to test and improve the prototype until the final version.

In this paper we give the current state of high-throughput virtual screening. We describe a casestudy of using a task-parallel MPI (Message Passing Interface) version of Autodock4 [1], [2] to run a virtual high-throughput screen of one-million compounds on the Jaguar Cray XK6 Supercomputer at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. We include a description of scripts developed to increase the efficiency of the predocking file preparation and postdocking analysis. A detailed tutorial, scripts, and source code for this MPI version of Autodock4 are available online at http://www.bio.utk.edu/baudrylab/autodockmpi.htm.

Many challenges exist in understanding the human body as a whole, its adaptability, its resilience, its immunological response, its healing and regeneration power. New knowledge is usually obtained by exploring unique conditions and environments and space is one such variable. Primarily, these attributes have been studied in space for the purpose of understanding the effect of the space environment on long duration space travel. However a myriad of lessons learned have emerged that are important for terrestrial medicine problems such as cardiovascular changes, intracranial pressure changes, vision changes, reduced immunity, etc. For medical study purposes, the changes induced by the space environment on the human body are in general fast and predictable; they persist while in the space environment but also revert to the initial pre-flight healthy state upon return to Earth. This provides a unique cycle to study wellness and disease prediction as well as to develop more effective countermeasures for the benefit of people on earth. At a scientific level, the environment of space can be used to develop new lines of investigations and new knowledge to push the terrestrial state of the art (i.e. study of phase diagrams, identification of new system's states, etc). Moreover, the specialized requirements for space medicine have driven advances in terrestrial medical technologies in areas such as monitoring, diagnostic, prevention and treatment. This talk will provide an overview of compelling examples in key areas of interest for terrestrial medical applications.

The ability to conduct genome-wide association studies (GWAS) has enabled new exploration of how genetic variations contribute to health and disease etiology. However, historically GWAS have been limited by inadequate sample size due to associated costs for genotyping and phenotyping of study subjects. This has prompted several academic medical centers to form "biobanks" where biospecimens linked to personal health information, typically in electronic health records (EHRs), are collected and stored on large number of subjects. This provides tremendous opportunities to discover novel genotype-phenotype associations and foster hypothesis generation. In this work, we study how emerging Semantic Web technologies can be applied in conjunction with clinical and genotype data stored at the Mayo Clinic Biobank to mine the phenotype data for genetic associations. In particular, we demonstrate the role of using Resource Description Framework (RDF) for representing EHR diagnoses and procedure data, and enable federated querying via standardized Web protocols to identify subjects genotyped with Type 2 Diabetes for discovering gene-disease associations. Our study highlights the potential of Web-scale data federation techniques to execute complex queries.

Full Text Available This paper evaluates the benefits of converting food waste and manure to biogas and/or fertilizer, while focusing on four available waste treatment technologies: direct combustion, landfilling, composting, and anaerobic digestion. These four alternative technologies were simulated using municipal-level data on food waste and manure in New Jersey. The criteria used to assess the four technologies include technological productivity, economic benefits, and impact on land scarcity. Anaerobic digestion with gas collection has the highest technological productivity; using anaerobic digesters would supply electricity to nearly ten thousand families in New Jersey. In terms of economic benefits, the landfill to gas method is the least costly method of treating waste. In comparison, direct combustion is by far the most costly method of all four waste-to-energy technologies.

In a world recently declared urban, each day technology plays a more important role in society. A majority of people seem to believe in technology not only for solving everyday problems and for supporting the current production and economic systems, but also for the redress of environmental problems that are caused to a large extent by the same technology that has driven society to the current standards. In this direction, megacities (i.e. cities with more than ten million inhabitants) repres...

The Upper Stage (US) section of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Ares I rocket will require internal access platforms for maintenance tasks performed by humans inside the vehicle. Tasks will occur during expensive critical path operations at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) including vehicle stacking and launch preparation activities. Platforms must be translated through a small human access hatch, installed in an enclosed worksite environment, support the weight of ground operators and be removed before flight - and their design must minimize additional vehicle mass at attachment points. This paper describes the application of a user-centered conceptual design process and the unique challenges encountered within NASA's systems engineering culture focused on requirements and "heritage hardware". The NASA design team at Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) initiated the user-centered design process by studying heritage internal access kits and proposing new design concepts during brainstorming sessions. Simultaneously, they partnered with the Technology Transfer/Innovative Partnerships Program to research inflatable structures and dynamic scaffolding solutions that could enable ground operator access. While this creative, technology-oriented exploration was encouraged by upper management, some design stakeholders consistently opposed ideas utilizing novel, untested equipment. Subsequent collaboration with an engineering consulting firm improved the technical credibility of several options, however, there was continued resistance from team members focused on meeting system requirements with pre-certified hardware. After a six-month idea-generating phase, an intensive six-week effort produced viable design concepts that justified additional vehicle mass while optimizing the human factors of platform installation and use. Although these selected final concepts closely resemble heritage internal access platforms, challenges from the application of the

Science and Technology have been widely recognized as the most important potent tools for socio-economic development. This paper begins with a brief critical and evaluative review of the status of science and technology education in developing countries in Africa. The conceptual framework and the major features of a functional and qualitative…

Next-generation sequencing technologies are able to produce high-throughput short sequence reads in a cost-effective fashion. The emergence of these technologies has not only facilitated genome sequencing but also changed the landscape of life sciences. Here I survey their major applications ranging...

This article addresses an important need--the dissemination of information relating to technology as a public relations tool--and the associated exigency for administrator and teacher technology training. Specifically, we identify the increased expectations for the performance of school leaders and teachers, as well as unresolved issues in public…

Describes the switchover from an outdated cargo warehouse using shelves and forklifts'' technology to a new semi-automatic facility with electronically controlled freight storage and retrieval, and an associated computerized documentation system. Illustrates the management of the personnel aspects in introducing technological change. (Author)

This paper addresses the influence of information technology in human resources management (HRM) and specifically on training policy through the experience of a Spanish telecommunications firm, "Telefonica". The characteristics of the training model designed by this firm to face new environments is considered and the technologies used, the key…

Parent and teacher collaborated to use the Apple iPhone as assistive technology to meet the needs of Bill, a 20-year-old student in the Saline Young Adult program, part of the Saline Michigan School System. Bill has an intellectual disability and this technology provided an effective, flexible and moderate cost solution that helped him meet his…

This paper addresses the influence of information technology in human resources management (HRM) and specifically on training policy through the experience of a Spanish telecommunications firm, "Telefonica". The characteristics of the training model designed by this firm to face new environments is considered and the technologies used,…

Stress in office environments is a big concern, often leading to burn-out. New technologies are emerging, such as easily available sensors, contextual reasoning, and electronic coaching (e-coaching) apps. In the Smart Reasoning for Well-being at Home and at Work (SWELL) project, we explore the potential of using such new pervasive technologies to provide support for the self-management of well-being, with a focus on individuals' stress-coping. Ideally, these new pervasive systems should be grounded in existing work stress and intervention theory. However, there is a large diversity of theories and they hardly provide explicit directions for technology design. The aim of this paper is to present a comprehensive and concise framework that can be used to design pervasive technologies that support knowledge workers to decrease stress. Based on a literature study we identify concepts relevant to well-being at work and select different work stress models to find causes of work stress that can be addressed. From a technical perspective, we then describe how sensors can be used to infer stress and the context in which it appears, and use intervention theory to further specify interventions that can be provided by means of pervasive technology. The resulting general framework relates several relevant theories: we relate "engagement and burn-out" to "stress", and describe how relevant aspects can be quantified by means of sensors. We also outline underlying causes of work stress and how these can be addressed with interventions, in particular utilizing new technologies integrating behavioral change theory. Based upon this framework we were able to derive requirements for our casestudy, the pervasive SWELL system, and we implemented two prototypes. Small-scale user studies proved the value of the derived technology-supported interventions. The presented framework can be used to systematically develop theory-based technology-supported interventions to address work stress. In

Background Stress in office environments is a big concern, often leading to burn-out. New technologies are emerging, such as easily available sensors, contextual reasoning, and electronic coaching (e-coaching) apps. In the Smart Reasoning for Well-being at Home and at Work (SWELL) project, we explore the potential of using such new pervasive technologies to provide support for the self-management of well-being, with a focus on individuals' stress-coping. Ideally, these new pervasive systems should be grounded in existing work stress and intervention theory. However, there is a large diversity of theories and they hardly provide explicit directions for technology design. Objective The aim of this paper is to present a comprehensive and concise framework that can be used to design pervasive technologies that support knowledge workers to decrease stress. Methods Based on a literature study we identify concepts relevant to well-being at work and select different work stress models to find causes of work stress that can be addressed. From a technical perspective, we then describe how sensors can be used to infer stress and the context in which it appears, and use intervention theory to further specify interventions that can be provided by means of pervasive technology. Results The resulting general framework relates several relevant theories: we relate “engagement and burn-out” to “stress”, and describe how relevant aspects can be quantified by means of sensors. We also outline underlying causes of work stress and how these can be addressed with interventions, in particular utilizing new technologies integrating behavioral change theory. Based upon this framework we were able to derive requirements for our casestudy, the pervasive SWELL system, and we implemented two prototypes. Small-scale user studies proved the value of the derived technology-supported interventions. Conclusions The presented framework can be used to systematically develop theory

Full Text Available Psychology, as a discipline, adopts a dualistic imaginary of the body: as a porous yet closed boundary. Therefore, accessing the "truth" of the subject requires all sorts of techniques and tools. The psychological discourse often considers these devices in exteriority of the subject. As a counterpoint, I propose that the artifacts are a constituent part of the corporal imaginary. The argument compares the Skinner Air Crib and Gesell’s Laboratory, two inventions of the mid-twentieth century, and a XXI century neuropsychological research about the location of the self. In the first two cases, the body is constructed as a porous barrier that participates within hygienic parameters, both operating and optimizing individual performance and military metaphors that has shaped social policy practices. The discussion of the neuropsychological research, as a casestudy, does not intend to question the results of the research from the neuropsychological field. It points towards those understandings and assumptions that reveal the connection of the neuropsychological discourse with its cultural context. Special attention is paid to gender construction, ways of mediating scientific knowledge, the hybridity between the neuropsychological reductionism of the scientific framing and the entertainment industry; as well as to the new forms of identity formation and the complementarity of the visuals and performance in the contemporary scene.

Full Text Available This work contemplates an analysis of period prior to delivery of the netbook, students from a public school in Belém-Pa. The objective is to verify the usability expectations of this technology for the same. The Technical chosen the purpose of this research was a survey, with online data collection and quantitative analysis, whose variables come from the marketing literature. Finally, let us reason together that students predict accept technological equipment, if it has similar technology to known by them, within hedonic values with utilitarian justifications of use.

Builder S.E. Volusia County Habitat for Humanity (SEVHFH) was interested in constructing a home to the new U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Zero Energy Ready Home standards. SEVHFH partners with DOE team Building America Partnership for Improved Residential Construction on Habitat for Humanity homes and routinely builds to ENERGY STAR V3.1. The only modification to the design needed to comply with the Zero Energy Ready Home criteria was the interior duct requirement. Unwilling to incur the added costs of a foam roof deck or wall heights that exceed 8 ft to accommodate a fur-down chase, SEVHFH opted to build a fur-up or raised ceiling chase. This casestudy describes the project.

The energy efficiency-based financial benefits of adding exterior insulation are well accepted by the building industry, and using exterior insulation as the drainage plane is the next logical step. This casestudy focuses on the field implementation of taped board insulation as the drainage plane in both new and retrofit residential applications, and provides information and recommendations for insulation contractors, general contractors, builders, remodelers, mechanical contractors, and homeowners. The order of work completed during home construction and retrofit improvements is important. Health and safety issues must be addressed first and are more important than durability issues, and durability issues are more important than saving energy. Three significant items are required to make taped insulating sheathing a simple, long term, and durable drainage plane: first, horizontal joints should be limited or eliminated wherever possible; where a horizontal joint exists, use superior materials; and, frequent installation inspection and regular trade training are required to maintain proper installation.

The energy efficiency-based financial benefits of adding exterior insulation are well accepted by the building industry, and using exterior insulation as the drainage plane is the next logical step. This casestudy focuses on the field implementation of taped board insulation as the drainage plane in both new and retrofit residential applications, and provides information and recommendations for insulation contractors, general contractors, builders, remodelers, mechanical contractors, and homeowners. The order of work completed during home construction and retrofit improvements is important. Health and safety issues must be addressed first and are more important than durability issues, and durability issues are more important than saving energy. Three significant items are required to make taped insulating sheathing a simple, long term, and durable drainage plane: first, horizontal joints should be limited or eliminated wherever possible; where a horizontal joint exists, use superior materials; and, frequent installation inspection and regular trade training are required to maintain proper installation.

Site selection is an important and necessary issue for waste management in fast-growing regions. Because of the complexity of waste management systems, the selection of the appropriate solid waste landfill site requires consideration of multiple alternative solutions and evaluation criteria. Based on actual conditions of the study area, we considered economic factors, calculated criteria weights using the analytical hierarchy process (AHP), and built a hierarchy model for solving the solid waste landfill site-selection problem in Beijing, China. A geographic information system (GIS) was used to manipulate and present spatial data. All maps are graded from 1 (lowest suitability) to 5 (highest suitability) using spatial information technologies. The candidate sites were determined by aggregation based on the criteria weights. The candidate sites are divided by 'best', 'good' and 'unsuitable' landfill areas. Best landfill areas represent optimal sites; good landfill areas can be used as back-up candidate sites. Our work offers a sitting methodology and provides essential support for decision-makers in the assessment of waste management problems in Beijing and other rapidly developing cities in developing countries.

The purpose of this study was to increase our understanding of the impact of Health Information Technology Systems (HITS) on dental school users when the systems are integrated into chair-side patient care. We used qualitative research methods, including interviews, focus groups, and observations, to capture the experiences of HITS users at a single institution. Users included administrators, clinical faculty members, predoctoral students, support staff, and residents. The data were analyzed using a grounded theory approach, and nine themes emerged: 1) HITS benefits were disproportionate among users; 2) communicating about the HITS was challenging; 3) users experienced a range of strong emotions; 4) the instructor persona diminished; 5) there were shifts in the school's power structure; 6) allocation of end-users' time shifted; 7) the training and support needs of end-users were significant; 8) perceived lack of HITS usability made documentation cumbersome for clinicians; and 9) clinicians' workflow was disrupted. HITS integration into patient care impacts the work of all system users, especially end-users. The themes highlight areas of potential concern for implementers and users in integrating a HITS into patient care.

Full Text Available Learning essential information literacy skills through the use of mobile phones is an innovative mlearning pilot project that was collaboratively undertaken in a Canadian university college over the course of two academic terms by faculty and the library staff. The research pilot project involved ninety one undergraduate students in five different classes majoring in psychology, social work, education or social development studies in an attempt to determine the effectiveness of using mobile technology to enhance students’ information literacy skills and learning experiences. Pre and post-test measures, and survey questionnaires generated quantitative and qualitative data that was analyzed to determine the degree of changes in frequency of mobile device information literacy access and fluency in digital literacy skills. The article highlights the Mobile Information Literacy innovation and includes the development and design of the mobile lessons, interactive exercises, and its applications. The study’s main results and conclusions are also discussed. Additionally, the successes and challenges of the pilot to support anytime, anywhere student mobile information literacy eLearning training that engages mobile learners and enhances their learning experience are identified and critically reflected upon to improve the innovation for stage two of the project.

This casestudy describes a unique vocational program at Lancaster County Career Technology Center in Mount Joy, PA, where high school students are gaining hands-on construction experience in building high performance homes with help from Building America team, Home Innovation Research Labs. This collaboration resulted in the Green Home 3, the third in a series of high performance homes for Apprentice Green. As one of LCCTC’s key educational strategies for gaining practical experience, students are involved in building real houses that incorporate state-of-the-art energy efficiency and green technologies. With two homes already completed, the Green Home 3 achieved a 44% whole-house energy savings over the Building America New Construction B10 Benchmark, DOE Zero Energy Ready Home (formerly Challenge Home) certification, and National Green Building Standard Gold-level certification.

This paper addresses the influence of information technology in human resources management (HRM) and specifically on training policy through the experience of a Spanish telecommunications firm, Telefonica. The characteristics of the training model designed by this firm to face new environments is considered and the technologies used, the key actions, the disadvantages and success factors are detected in trying to grow an E-learning company. Success factors in training policy are identified. T...

Drug-drug interactions (DDIs) are a major contributing factor for unexpected adverse drug events (ADEs). However, few of knowledge resources cover the severity information of ADEs that is critical for prioritizing the medical need. The objective of the study is to develop and evaluate a Semantic Web-based approach for mining severe DDI-induced ADEs. We utilized a normalized FDA Adverse Event Report System (AERS) dataset and performed a casestudy of three frequently prescribed cardiovascular drugs: Warfarin, Clopidogrel and Simvastatin. We extracted putative DDI-ADE pairs and their associated outcome codes. We developed a pipeline to filter the associations using ADE datasets from SIDER and PharmGKB. We also performed a signal enrichment using electronic medical records (EMR) data. We leveraged the Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Event (CTCAE) grading system and classified the DDI-induced ADEs into the CTCAE in the Web Ontology Language (OWL). We identified 601 DDI-ADE pairs for the three drugs using the filtering pipeline, of which 61 pairs are in Grade 5, 56 pairs in Grade 4 and 484 pairs in Grade 3. Among 601 pairs, the signals of 59 DDI-ADE pairs were identified from the EMR data. The approach developed could be generalized to detect the signals of putative severe ADEs induced by DDIs in other drug domains and would be useful for supporting translational and pharmacovigilance study of severe ADEs.

This paper explores the notion of educational partnerships and reports on research on client provider partnerships between full primary schools and external technology education providers for Year 7 and 8 New Zealand students (age range approx. 12 to 13 years). Educational reforms in New Zealand and the introduction of a more holistic technology education curriculum in 1995 changed the nature of the relationship between the technology education partners. The research sought to identify, from the perspective of the primary schools (clients), factors that contribute to successful partnerships between them and their technology education provider. A mixed methods approach consisting of a survey of client schools, in-depth interviews and a series of four in-depth casestudies (drawing on issues derived from the survey) was employed. Issues relating to teacher subculture, leadership roles and inflexibility of official processes all surfaced. The research points to an absence of commitment, shared understanding, shared power, leadership, communication and accountability in many educational partnerships that were the focus of this work.

Subsidy programs for new energy technologies are motivated by the experience curve: increased adoption of a technology leads to learning and economies of scale that lower costs. Geographic differences in fuel prices and climate lead to large variability in the economic performance of energy technologies. The notion of cascading diffusion is that regions with favorable economic conditions serve as the basis to build scale and reduce costs so that the technology becomes attractive in new regions. We develop a model of cascading diffusion and implement via a casestudy of residential solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) for combined heating and power. We consider diffusion paths within the U.S. and internationally. We construct market willingness-to-pay curves and estimate future manufacturing costs via an experience curve. Combining market and cost results, we find that for rapid cost reductions (learning rate = 25%), a modest public subsidy can make SOFC investment profitable for 20-160 million households. If cost reductions are slow however (learning rate = 15%), residential SOFCs may not become economically competitive. Due to higher energy prices in some countries, international diffusion is more favorable than domestic, mitigating much of the uncertainty in the learning rate.

In this dissertation, I study the network structure and content of a transnational movement against hydraulic fracturing and shale development, Global Frackdown. I apply a relational perspective to the study of role of digital technologies in transnational political organizing. I examine the structure of the social movement through analysis of hyperlinking patterns and qualitative analysis of the content of the ties in one strand of the movement. I explicate three actor types: coordinator, broker, and hyper-local. This research intervenes in the paradigm that considers international actors as the key nodes to understanding transnational advocacy networks. I argue this focus on the international scale obscures the role of globally minded local groups in mediating global issues back to the hyper-local scale. While international NGOs play a coordinating role, local groups with a global worldview can connect transnational movements to the hyper-local scale by networking with groups that are too small to appear in a transnational network. I also examine the movement's messaging on the social media platform Twitter. Findings show that Global Frackdown tweeters engage in framing practices of: movement convergence and solidarity, declarative and targeted engagement, prefabricated messaging, and multilingual tweeting. The episodic, loosely-coordinated and often personalized, transnational framing practices of Global Frackdown tweeters support core organizers' goal of promoting the globalness of activism to ban fracking. Global Frackdown activists use Twitter as a tool to advance the movement and to bolster its moral authority, as well as to forge linkages between localized groups on a transnational scale. Lastly, I study the relative prominence of negative messaging about shale development in relation to pro-shale messaging on Twitter across five hashtags (#fracking, #globalfrackdown, #natgas, #shale, and #shalegas). I analyze the top actors tweeting using the #fracking

Full Text Available Mobile technology presents an exciting opportunity for social workers to reach populations that are typically underserved by interventions and services. We present one application of technology that is particularly relevant to social work practice. The mDad (Mobile Device Assisted Dad app was developed to augment existing social work practices by providing a father-friendly tool to help new fathers learn about and engage with their infants and toddlers. We discuss the process of developing the app content and conducting usability testing of the mDad app. We conclude with a discussion of the lessons learned from the mDad project, and the challenges of implementation and dissemination of technology-based interventions in community contexts.

Full Text Available Over the last four years, the National Library of Scotland has saved money and improved user access to online historical maps through the implementation of new open source technologies. These new tools include a new Viewer for MrSID images using OpenLayers, a collaborative Georeferencer application, new Tile Map Services for delivering georeferenced historical maps online, and a new GeoServer and OpenLayers application for accessing 44,000 series maps as clickable indexes. All of these applications were developed by Petr Pridal / Klokan Technologies, in collaboration with the National Library of Scotland, and all of them are easily extendible to other map libraries. These open source tools also provide an excellent basis for collaboration with other map libraries, sharing technology, experience and advice.

The cost of healthcare is rising and reforms have been introduced across Europe to address the cost issue in healthcare. There is potential to improve logistical processes within healthcare to save costs and at the same time provide services that support high quality patient care. Re......-designing processes and implementing technology can improve the efficiency of processes and reduce costs. A relations diagram has been developed that identifies the effects between the constructs Logistics, Technology, Procedure and Structure. Knowledge about how these constructs affect each other is important when...

This study is an investigation of the uses of music technology in music education programs in two universities. The purpose of this study was to discover the ways in which music technology was used in two schools of music across the entire music curriculum for music education students. This study detailed the ways in which music technology was…

Full Text Available External posttensioning or unbonded prestressing was found to be a powerful tool for retrofitting and for increasing the life extension of existing structures. Since the 1950s, this technique of reinforcement was applied with success to bridge structures in many countries, and was found to provide an efficient and economic solution for a wide range of bridge types and conditions. Unbonded prestressing is defined as a system in which the post-tensioning tendons or bars are located outside the concrete cross-section and the prestressing forces are transmitted to the girder through the end anchorages, deviators, or saddles. In response to the demand for a faster and more efficient transportation system, there was a steady increase in the weight and volume of traffic throughout the world. Besides increases in legal vehicle loads, the overloading of vehicles is a common problem and it must also be considered when designing or assessing bridges. As a result, many bridges are now required to carry loads significantly greater than their original design loads; and their deck results still deteriorated by cracking of concrete, corrosion of rebars, snapping of tendons, and so forth. In the following, a casestudy about a railway bridge retrofitted by external posttensioning technique will be illustrated.

There are many influences on a child's identity. Photobook technology purposefully prepared around science explorations presents a modern opportunity to repeatedly trigger memories that reinforce the "me, as scientist" viewpoint. Semi-structured interviews at 6 and 8 years of age were conducted with a child who was the subject of a photobook of…

Technology-based education is learning primarily based in constructivist styled pedagogies. It is neither good nor bad; its value is inherent to the user and environment where it is placed. While some churches place a high value on the benefits gleaned from its use, others abhor it in religious education. Why churches incorporate or reject…

The integration of digital technology into secondary mathematics education is not yet a widespread success. As teachers are crucial players in this integration, an important challenge is not only to attract early adopters, but also to support mid-adopting teachers in their professional development o

Discusses the three-step implementation of an instructional technology tool and associated pedagogy to support teaching and learning computer programming concepts. The Flowchart Interpreter (FLINT) was proven through experiments to support novice programmers better than the traditional textbook approach. (EV)

As India aspires to become the information and communication technology (ICT) leader in the world, the education of its children is a primary concern. While India's policymakers expect ICT to usher in promising education changes, there is a limited understanding of how computers are used and negotiated in India's schools. This dissertation is an…

Many researchers believe that computers have the ability to help improve the reading skills of students. In an effort to improve the poor reading scores of students on state tests, as well as improve students' overall academic performance, computers and other technologies have been installed in Frozen Bay School classrooms. As the success of these…

Purpose: Cloud Computing (CC) technology is getting implemented rapidly in the educational sector to improve learning, research and other administrative process. As evident from the literature review, most of these implementations are happening in the western countries such as USA, UK, while the level of implementation of CC in developing…

This report presents the results from several demonstrations of a new method for sealing building envelope air leaks using an aerosol sealing process developed by the Western Cooling Efficiency Center at UC Davis. The process involves pressurizing a building while applying an aerosol sealant to the interior. As air escapes through leaks in the building envelope, the aerosol particles are transported to the leaks where they collect and form a seal that blocks the leak. Standard blower door technology is used to facilitate the building pressurization, which allows the installer to track the sealing progress during the installation and automatically verify the final building tightness. Each aerosol envelope sealing installation was performed after drywall was installed and taped, and the process did not appear to interrupt the construction schedule or interfere with other trades working in the homes. The labor needed to physically seal bulk air leaks in typical construction will not be replaced by this technology. However, this technology is capable of bringing the air leakage of a building that was built with standard construction techniques and HERS-verified sealing down to levels that would meet DOE Zero Energy Ready Homes program requirements. When a developer is striving to meet a tighter envelope leakage specification, this technology could greatly reduce the cost to achieve that goal by providing a simple and relatively low cost method for reducing the air leakage of a building envelope with little to no change in their common building practices.

OBJECTIVES: The practical significance of health technology assessment (HTA) in policy decisions or clinical practice has been challenged. Possibly, problem definitions underlying HTA do not concur sufficiently with the problem definitions held by policy makers or clinicians. We performed an in-dept

Full Text Available The paper discusses the problem of creation and development of business, technology clusters, aimed at developing knowledge base for cross‐border environment. The discussed example concerns Polish‐Slovak cluster, focused on research of innovative methods for monitoring the safety of structure using fiber Bragg grating sensors.

Full Text Available The main purpose of this work is to identify the factors that influence the process of technology management in the sector of small- and medium-sized enterprises of the metal processing industry, considering the shape and course required to achieve modern operation conditions by enterprises in the market.

Describes a workshop designed to communicate to students the idea of appropriate technology in soil conservation enabling them to experience concepts in the geography of development. Explains that the workshop was evaluated by students using open and closed style questions. Includes references. (CMK)

Technology-aided programs for assisting communication and leisure engagement were assessed in single-casestudies involving two men with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Study I involved a 51-year-old man with a virtually total loss of his motor repertoire and assessed a technology-aided program aimed at enabling him to (a) write and send out…

Technology-aided programs for assisting communication and leisure engagement were assessed in single-casestudies involving two men with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Study I involved a 51-year-old man with a virtually total loss of his motor repertoire and assessed a technology-aided program aimed at enabling him to (a) write and send out…

These two casestudies assessed technology-based programs for promoting walking fluency and improving foot-ground contact during walking with a man and a woman with multiple disabilities, respectively. The man showed breaks during walking and the woman presented with toe walking. The technology used in the studies included a microprocessor with…

The groundwater remediation program at the F and H Seepage Basins, Savannah River Sits (SRS) is a casestudy of the integration of various environmental restoration technologies at a single waste site. Hydraulic control measures are being designed to mitigate the discharge of groundwater plumes to surface water. One of the primary constituents of the plumes is tritium. An extraction and reinjection scenario is being designed to keep the tritium in circulation in the shallow groundwater, until it can naturally decay. This will be accomplished by extracting groundwater downgradient of the waste sites, treatment, and reinjection of the tritiated water into the water table upgradient of the basins. Innovative in-situ technologies, including electrolytic migration, are being field tested at the site to augment the pump-treat-reinject system. The in-situ technologies target removal of contaminants which are relatively immobile, yet represent long term risks to human health and the environment. Wetland restoration is an integral part of the F and H remediation program. Both in-situ treatment of the groundwater discharging the wetlands to adjust the pH, and replacement of water loss due to the groundwater extraction program ar being considered. Toxicity studies indicate that drought and the effects of low pH groundwater discharge have been factors in observed tree mortality in wetlands near the waste sites.

Full Text Available Abstract Background Factors of IT adoption have largely been discussed in the literature. However, existing frameworks (such as TAM or TTF are failing to include one important aspect, the interaction between user and task. Method Based on a literature study and a casestudy, we developed the FITT framework to help analyse the socio-organisational-technical factors that influence IT adoption in a health care setting. Results Our FITT framework ("Fit between Individuals, Task and Technology" is based on the idea that IT adoption in a clinical environment depends on the fit between the attributes of the individual users (e.g. computer anxiety, motivation, attributes of the technology (e.g. usability, functionality, performance, and attributes of the clinical tasks and processes (e.g. organisation, task complexity. We used this framework in the retrospective analysis of a three-year casestudy, describing the adoption of a nursing documentation system in various departments in a German University Hospital. We will show how the FITT framework helped analyzing the process of IT adoption during an IT implementation: we were able to describe every found IT adoption problem with regard to the three fit dimensions, and any intervention on the fit can be described with regard to the three objects of the FITT framework (individual, task, technology. We also derive facilitators and barriers to IT adoption of clinical information systems. Conclusion This work should support a better understanding of the reasons for IT adoption failures and therefore enable better prepared and more successful IT introduction projects. We will discuss, however, that from a more epistemological point of view, it may be difficult or even impossible to analyse the complex and interacting factors that predict success or failure of IT projects in a socio-technical environment.

The use of the case method in teaching various technical communication skills is described. Features of the method considered include: solving communication problems, identifying an audience, planning written communications, presenting written communications, and using visual aids.

Graduates in the areas of Science and Technology are believed to have traditionally been employed in a number of specific industries, but the recent restructuring of some industries may have affected this phenomenon. In order to examine the trends concerning employment issues in more detail, a casestudy was conducted by surveying employment statistics for every five years between 1985 and 2010, of graduates from various departments of Science and Technology at a Japanese National University. In this period, the Japanese economy experienced a variety of changes which resulted in some leading Japanese universities with engineering programmes changing their emphasis from undergraduate studies to postgraduate studies. These influences were observed using employment statistics. According to the statistics representing degree levels and the ratios of job openings to applicants, the percentages of graduates employed by industry were compared using data measured at five year intervals. A shift in the employment of graduates can be observed. Employment of graduates of Master's degree courses increased twofold during the 1990s, and employment of Ph.D. course graduates increased significantly in the near term, while employment of Bachelor's degree holders decreased. The relationship between graduates of 13 departments and 21 types of industry was analysed using multiple correspondence analysis. Common two-dimensional scales such as basic-advanced science and technology, and broad-specific demand science and technology were extracted. Both factors of year and degree levels were also configured using the same figures. These configurations were compared between the years examined, and the changes in the structural relationships between degree levels, departments and industries were analysed. These results suggest that some industrial sectors have recently begun to require Master's or Doctoral level graduates from specific departments, though they had not strongly done so before

Support services in providing PACS to healthcare facilities are becoming more complex. Imaginative staffing models are imperative to provide a successful PACS program to customers. Choosing the right staffing grid of support staff can be assisted by locations with like volumes or geographic areas. The RIT (radiology information technology) specialist is an excellent asset in a growing PACS environment. RITs can be the crucial liaison between the radiology department and the customer. RITs with different backgrounds can be recruited based on what type of support services your customers need. RITs are a great resource for one-on-one training from physicians to nursing staff. This mobile PACS spokesperson can take the concerns of the customers to the PACS administrator to open dialogue and communication that will win customer loyalty in this ever changing world of technology.

Full Text Available In the changing world with various customers’ demands the businesses tend to improve their advantages to beat their rivals by means of better quality, lower prices and so. For Iranian polyester market quality is of crucial importance and is achieved through changing and updating technologies. According to highly regarded model of CAPTECH, which is recommended by UNIDO, technology parameters are defined in each phase and not generally as a whole. In the end the biggest gaps are defined. The main goal is to prioritize the main parameters affecting Iranian polyester company's quality. In order to fulfill our goal, 20 high and medium managers were questioned for this paper. The questions were gathered according to UNIDO samples. After a qualitative and quantitative test we concluded that the biggest gap is for supply chain(56.91 and the lowest gap is for combination phase(43.97.

Full Text Available Currently, hospitals are required to improve their quality of health services to meet the higher standards. This improvement is supported by Ministry of Health which has launched electronic health (e-health program. Under this program, hospitals are required to have Hospital Information System (HIS or Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP for healthcare. However, to date only a few hospitals have implemented an integrated HIS. The purpose of this research is to asses the Information Technology (IT maturity of a teaching hospital in implementing HIS. This IT assessment observes from four layers namely business process, Information System (IS, Information Technology (IT and IS/IT management and organization. The result of this research is that teaching hospitals should prepare a plan to restructure their network with adequate infrastructure, create IT blue print and policy, IT organization restructuring, IT staff competency development and build integrated HIS.

Context: A rural community in a developing country is a socially complex and infrastructural weak environment that demands clear understanding of the social, economical, cultural, and political precondition before implementing information commutation technology (ICT) innovations. Objective: This ...... for an ongoing discourse to fill identified gaps from software engineering, computer science or information system research perspective. Keywords: design method, information system, development, agriculture....... with number of contributions but still there is long ways to go. The review shows that currently there are limited knowledge areas in methods, user interface design, and theory in how to design information system for rural community settings. Conclusion: This paper first presents an overview of research......Context: A rural community in a developing country is a socially complex and infrastructural weak environment that demands clear understanding of the social, economical, cultural, and political precondition before implementing information commutation technology (ICT) innovations. Objective...

Full Text Available Nowadays, the use of Web based Education (WbE in distance learning education is considered to be an innovative method of learning. Supportive parties argue that WbE renews the educational practice through the use of computers and their applied methodology, as well as the technologies provided by the use of the internet. These result in consciously renewing the educational material and in creating a flexible structure which promotes the individualization of learning. The proposed model aims at delivering technological classes through the internet, offering a flexible use of means and tools, allowing a synthetic presentation of selected bibliographic texts that cover the whole cognitional object, developing a cooperative spirit and individualising the learning procedure.

Under a Multi-Vendor Biotreatability Demonstration Program, SBP Technologies, Inc. (SBP) conducted a field demonstration of a microbiologically enhanced in situ groundwater and soil treatment technology at the Sweden-3 Chapman Superfund Site, Brockport, New York. The Sweden-3 Chapman site is an inactive landfill used to dispose of construction/demolition debris and hazardous wastes between the years of 1970 and 1978. Site investigations conducted in 1985 by NYSDEC indicated that drums were buried throughout the landfill. These drums and on-site soils were sampled in 1987, indicating elevated levels of trichloroethylene (TCE), methylene chloride, tetrachloroethylene (PCE), and acetone among other volatile organics (VOCs) and semi-volatile organics (SVOCs). In 1992, a remedial investigation identifies source areas and determined the extent of vertical and horizontal migration of contaminants at the site. Information and data generated during these investigations set the foundation for conducting the multi-vendor biotreatability demonstration.

Learning is no longer an internal individual activity but occurs through networks and connections. The aim of this project was to teach online health informatics students to use Web 2.0 tools and technologies to form networks and connections through experiential learning assignments. Web 2.0 tools and technologies were evaluated using a criteria checklist prior to implementation for students enrolled in health informatics classes at the University of Kansas School of Nursing. Health informatics students have developed competencies using an instant message service, blogging, concept mapping, social bookmarking, and interacting a virtual environment. In the future, health care professionals will have to work in rapidly changing environments and keep abreast of new innovations and tools, learn to use those tools, and to teach others about the tools.

Full Text Available OBJECTIVE: Due to their toxicity, diesel emissions have been submitted to progressively more restrictive regulations in developed countries. However, in Brazil, the implementation of the Cleaner Diesel Technologies policy (Euro IV standards for vehicles produced in 2009 and low-sulfur diesel with 50 ppm of sulfur was postponed until 2012 without a comprehensive analysis of the effect of this delay on public health parameters. We aimed to evaluate the impact of the delay in implementing the Cleaner Diesel Technologies policy on health indicators and monetary health costs in Brazil. METHODS: The primary estimator of exposure to air pollution was the concentration of ambient fine particulate matter (particles with aerodynamic diameters <2.5 μm, [PM2.5]. This parameter was measured daily in six Brazilian metropolitan areas during 2007-2008. We calculated 1 the projected reduction in the PM2.5 that would have been achieved if the Euro IV standards had been implemented in 2009 and 2 the expected reduction after implementation in 2012. The difference between these two time curves was transformed into health outcomes using previous dose-response curves. The economic valuation was performed based on the DALY (disability-adjusted life years method. RESULTS: The delay in implementing the Cleaner Diesel Technologies policy will result in an estimated excess of 13,984 deaths up to 2040. Health expenditures are projected to be increased by nearly US$ 11.5 billion for the same period. CONCLUSIONS: The present results indicate that a significant health burden will occur because of the postponement in implementing the Cleaner Diesel Technologies policy. These results also reinforce the concept that health effects must be considered when revising fuel and emission policies.

8217 fall onto Takur Ghar. Predator. Due to the availability of a Predator feed at the various Tactical Operations Centers, higher headquarters assumed...have been, and continue to be, documented at the unit level. As one of the first battles of the Twenty-first century, the story of Takur Ghar...technology. The battle itself was a story of courage and sacrifice, one in v-trch seven Americans died fighting for their country - and for each other. It

Since the 21st century Chinese firms have started at a grate pace of expanding their business abroad. This has aroused worldwide speculation and tension. By reporting on qualitative research conducted at Huawei Technologies Ltd., this paper analyses Huawei's corporate profile and its internationalisation strategies employed as a latecomer firm. The key issues examined in this paper are: to what extent does Huawei not follow the traditional internationalisation theory, its core competences and...

The U.S. oversight system for genetically engineered organisms (GEOs) was evaluated to develop hypotheses and derive lessons for oversight of other emerging technologies, such as nanotechnology. Evaluation was based upon quantitative expert elicitation, semi-standardized interviews, and historical literature analysis. Through an interdisciplinary policy analysis approach, blending legal, ethical, risk analysis, and policy sciences viewpoints, criteria were used to identify strengths and weaknesses of GEOs oversight and explore correlations among its attributes and outcomes. From the three sources of data, hypotheses and broader conclusions for oversight were developed. Our analysis suggests several lessons for oversight of emerging technologies: the importance of reducing complexity and uncertainty in oversight for minimizing financial burdens on small product developers; consolidating multi-agency jurisdictions to avoid gaps and redundancies in safety reviews; consumer benefits for advancing acceptance of GEO products; rigorous and independent pre- and post-market assessment for environmental safety; early public input and transparency for ensuring public confidence; and the positive role of public input in system development, informed consent, capacity, compliance, incentives, and data requirements and stringency in promoting health and environmental safety outcomes, as well as the equitable distribution of health impacts. Our integrated approach is instructive for more comprehensive analyses of oversight systems, developing hypotheses for how features of oversight systems affect outcomes, and formulating policy options for oversight of future technological products, especially nanotechnology products.

Due to their toxicity, diesel emissions have been submitted to progressively more restrictive regulations in developed countries. However, in Brazil, the implementation of the Cleaner Diesel Technologies policy (Euro IV standards for vehicles produced in 2009 and low-sulfur diesel with 50 ppm of sulfur) was postponed until 2012 without a comprehensive analysis of the effect of this delay on public health parameters. We aimed to evaluate the impact of the delay in implementing the Cleaner Diesel Technologies policy on health indicators and monetary health costs in Brazil. The primary estimator of exposure to air pollution was the concentration of ambient fine particulate matter (particles with aerodynamic diameters policy will result in an estimated excess of 13,984 deaths up to 2040. Health expenditures are projected to be increased by nearly US$ 11.5 billion for the same period. The present results indicate that a significant health burden will occur because of the postponement in implementing the Cleaner Diesel Technologies policy. These results also reinforce the concept that health effects must be considered when revising fuel and emission policies.

The aim of this paper is to compare different end-of-life tire (ELT) treatment technologies in China from an environmental and economic perspective. Four treatment technologies were evaluated: ambient grinding, devulcanization, pyrolysis and illegal tire oil extraction. Life cycle assessment (LCA) was applied to evaluate the potential environmental impact of each treatment based on the Eco-indicator 99 (Hierarchist approach) method provided by GaBi 4 software. The final result shows that pyrolysis represents the environmentally benign option while illegal tire oil extraction caused the worst damages. For the three legal treatments, although high credit was obtained when considering avoided impacts from recycled materials and energy, they have great impact as to respiratory effects (inorganic) dominantly contributed by energy production stage, which implies that the emphasis on environmental policies related to ELT treatment should shift from the control of emissions from treatment process to the reduction of energy consumption. A simplified comparison of net benefits and total impacts shows that the most eco-effective ELT treatment technology is pyrolysis, followed by dynamic devulcanization and ambient grinding. The illegal tire oil extraction, however, must be prohibited immediately because of its highest environmental pollution and lowest net benefit.

The dissertation addresses the focus of Astronomy in Science, Technology and Society [STS}, which the author calls the STS-Astro. Observes the International Year of the Astronomy 2009 [IYA 2009] as one of the greatest experiences STS worldwide, causing unprecedented integration between science, technology and humanities, with positive impacts in many sectors of society and are still worthy of study, specially in Brazil due to the implementation of the International Year of Astronomy, Brazil 2009 [IYABrazil-2009}. Astronomy is also investigated in the area of Education, based mainly on theoretical aspects of educational socio-interacionist of Lev Semenovich Vygotsky (Vygotsky, 1991, 2008 and 2012, p. 103-117) and socio-historical cultural of Paulo Reglus Neves Freire (1979, 1982 and 1996), but when necessary and still keeping the field of constructivism, properly taking advantage of the interactionism and transdisciplinarity of Jean William Fritz Piaget (1983). Concerning Distance Education [DE], it is noted significant growth at the graduate and postgraduate courses. New challenges arise, with the establishment of an increasingly accustomed to Information and Communication Technologies [ICT] and the teaching methodologies to be used and developed, with Astronomy becoming an important instrument in the teaching-learning process associated technologies. Using the methodology of action research, we proceeded with a casestudy involving 26 students of the discipline of Astronomy Topics applied to Education, between November 1 and December 17, 2012, of the postgraduation courses in Distance Education at the Universidade Cruzeiro do Sul [Southern Cross University]. The results obtained permit statistical surveys therefore quantitative, but also qualitative information about the teaching-learning Astronomy by DE. Analyses of performance and progress of each student and set permit a finding interaction among those involved in the mediation of the teacher-tutor who, in turn

In early 2004, the Hilton Hotels Corporation (HHC) required that all of its hotels (both owned and franchised) install high-speed Internet access (HSIA) in all of their rooms by June 2004. This case focuses on how one of its franchise properties located on the northern gulf coast of Florida (the Hilton Sandestin Beach Golf Resort &…

The proportional number of elderly citizens is increasing in many parts of the world, and the need for healthcare ICT solutions that allow them to live independently in the community is equally increasing. It is important to tailor these solutions to this age group, in order to achieve a high degree of acceptance among the end users. To do this, we need to have a thorough understanding of how and why seniors use (or do not use) these technologies. This master s thesis aimed to gather know...

Full Text Available The purpose of this study was to investigate use of Instructional Technology (IT by special education teachers in a school for students with moderate to severe intellectual disability (ID. Research questions were a Which IT do teachers use during class time? b What are the ways of providing IT? (c What are the problems that teachers encountered while using IT? (d What are the results and effects of the encountered problems? (e Is there any use of assistive technology (AT devices? This is a casestudy based on collecting and analyzing qualitative data. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with nine teachers; students with moderate to severe ID in the first, second, fifth, and seventh grade were observed in social studies lessons, as were eight teachers of those students. The study showed that use of IT is limited in a special school for children with ID and this situation is affecting teachers and students in a negative way. Also, use of AT is lacking

Full Text Available The proliferation of increasingly interactive e-reader devices such as the Amazon Kindle represents an opportunity to explore their evolving pedagogical value. This study aims to investigate how use of the Kindle can enhance individuals’ English language learning—more specifically their attitudes, reading comprehension, vocabulary development and pronunciation performance—in the context of informal and lifelong learning in Palestine, and to explore the further potential of scaling up the use of e-readers at a national level. At the piloting stage of this initiative, the study operated at two levels (micro and meso of the M3 evaluation framework. Mixed methods were used: qualitative data were obtained through a casestudy of the practices and perceptions of two teachers in two classrooms in the Qalqilia center and quantitative data were collected through a survey of 114 learners. The study shows that the Kindle’s technological affordances are effective in creating a flexible, authentic and interactive environment for English language learning, provided that teachers change their teaching methods to take full advantage of the features of mobile technologies to create innovative learning approaches aligned with the needs of the e-generation. It was also found that despite some concerns with the usability issue, attitudes towards learning English changed positively and learners’ vocabulary and pronunciation improved.

Full Text Available Abstract India has made appreciable progress and continues to demonstrate a strong commitment for establishing and operating a disease surveillance programme responsive to the requirements of the International Health Regulations (IHR[2005]. Within five years of its launch, India has effectively used modern information and communication technology for collection, storage, transmission and management of data related to disease surveillance and effective response. Terrestrial and/or satellite based linkages are being established within all states, districts, state-run medical colleges, infectious disease hospitals, and public health laboratories. This network enables speedy data transfer, video conferencing, training and e-learning for outbreaks and programme monitoring. A 24x7 call centre is in operation to receive disease alerts. To complement these efforts, a media scanning and verification cell functions to receive reports of early warning signals. During the 2009 H1N1 outbreak, the usefulness of the information and communication technology (ICT network was well appreciated. India is using ICT as part of its Integrated Disease Surveillance Project (IDSP to help overcome the challenges in further expansion in hard-to-reach populations, to increase the involvement of the private sector, and to increase the use of other modes of communication like e-mail and voicemail.

India has made appreciable progress and continues to demonstrate a strong commitment for establishing and operating a disease surveillance programme responsive to the requirements of the International Health Regulations (IHR[2005]). Within five years of its launch, India has effectively used modern information and communication technology for collection, storage, transmission and management of data related to disease surveillance and effective response. Terrestrial and/or satellite based linkages are being established within all states, districts, state-run medical colleges, infectious disease hospitals, and public health laboratories. This network enables speedy data transfer, video conferencing, training and e-learning for outbreaks and programme monitoring. A 24x7 call centre is in operation to receive disease alerts. To complement these efforts, a media scanning and verification cell functions to receive reports of early warning signals. During the 2009 H1N1 outbreak, the usefulness of the information and communication technology (ICT) network was well appreciated. India is using ICT as part of its Integrated Disease Surveillance Project (IDSP) to help overcome the challenges in further expansion in hard-to-reach populations, to increase the involvement of the private sector, and to increase the use of other modes of communication like e-mail and voicemail.

The objective of this study is to assess the role of mobile technology to promote a communicative city in Indonesia. The focus is on mobile technologies as symbols of the latest information and communication technology (ICT). Communication influences the capacity building of the governmental planning employees to conduct better planning…

This hypothesis-generating casestudy investigates the naturally emerging roles of technology brokers and technology leaders in three independent schools in New York involving 92 school educators. A multiple and mixed method design utilizing Social Network Analysis (SNA) and fuzzy set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (FSQCA) involved gathering…

Emerging mobile technologies can be considered a new form of social and cultural artefact that mediates people's language learning. This multi-casestudy investigates how mobile technologies mediate a group of Hong Kong university students' L2 learning, which serves as a lens with which to capture the personalised, unique, contextual and…

With increasing clean-energy demand, photovoltaic (PV) technologies have gained attention as potential long-term alternative to fossil fuel energy. However, PV research and manufacture still utilize fossil fuel-powered grid electricity. With continuous enhancement of solar conversion efficiency, it is imperative to assess whether overall life cycle efficiency is also being enhanced. Many new-material PV technologies are still in their research phase, and life cycle analyses of these technologies have not yet been performed. For best results, grid dependency must be minimized for PV research, and this can be accomplished by an analytical instrument called Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). LCA is the study of environmental impacts of a product throughout its life cycle. While there are some non-recoverable costs of research, energy is precious, and the PV research community should be aware of its energy consumption. LCA can help identify options for energy conservation through process optimization. A casestudy was conducted on the energy demand of a test-bed emerging PV technology using life cycle assessment methodology. The test-bed system chosen for this study was a new-material PV cell. The objective was to quantify the total energy demand for the research phase of the test-bed solar cell's life cycle. The objective was accomplished by collecting primary data on energy consumption for each process in the development of this solar cell. It was found that 937 kWh of energy was consumed for performing research on a single sample of the solar cell. For comparison, this energy consumption is 83% of Arkansas's average monthly residential electricity consumption. Life cycle inventory analysis showed that heating, ventilation, and air conditioning consumed the bulk of the energy of research. It is to be noted that the processes studied as part of the solar cell test-bed system are representative of a research process only. Life cycle thinking can identify energy hot-spots and

Chalvatzis, Konstantinos J. [School of Environmental Sciences and Norwich Business School, University of East Anglia, Norwich, NR4 7TJ (United Kingdom)

2009-08-15

Energy and electricity in particular, are of unquestionable value for the welfare of all modern societies. The electricity sectors of Eastern European countries have undergone several phases of development between the post-WWII days within the CEMA and USSR frameworks and today's EU and global energy and environmental regimes. The present paper examines the progress of the Polish electricity sector throughout the last decades, providing useful information regarding not only the technical generation and distribution infrastructure but also the policies that have been and are currently implemented. The results are discussed in the context of indicators such as the electricity intensity and per capita consumption, and show that although the Polish electricity sector has gone a long way, there still are several necessary technology management steps to be taken if Poland is to adequately address the challenges of international competition, electricity supply security and environmental sustainability. (author)

Full Text Available Information and Communication Technology is playing an important role in assisting teachers in their activities. They became a more efficient, b more precise and c more comprehensive. The “Audio” ad is a clear illustration for this trend. Students’ acceptance of the “Audio” tool has been analysed and compared with the “traditional” correction and the “track change”. 57 students have answered a structured questionnaire using a web 2.0 application for creating an online form. Results show a high relative importance for the “Audio” correction (42.02% of, followed by the “track change” and the “traditional printed document” with 33.02% and 24.95% respectively.

Condensing boiler technology has been around for many years and has proven to be a durable, reliable method of heating. Based on previous research efforts, however, it is apparent that these types of systems are not designed and installed to achieve maximum efficiency. For example, in order to protect their equipment in the field, manufacturers of low-mass condensing boilers typically recommend design strategies and components that ensure steady, high flow rates through the heat exchangers, such as primary-secondary piping, which ultimately result in decreased efficiency. There is also a significant lack of information for contractors on how to configure these systems to optimize overall efficiency. In response to these findings, researchers from Building America team Consortium for Advanced Residential Buildings worked with industry partners to develop hydronic system designs that would address these issues and result in higher overall system efficiencies and improved response times.

The US Department of Energy (DOE) Advanced Industrial Concepts Division (AICD) under the Office of Industrial Technologies (OIT) supports interdisciplinary applied research and exploratory development that will expand the knowledge base to enable industry to improve its energy efficiency and its capability to use alternative energy resources. AICD capitalizes on scientific and technical advances from the United States and abroad, applying them to address critical technical needs of American industry. As a result, AICD research and development products are many and varied, and the effective transfer of these products to diverse targeted users requires different strategies as well. This paper describes the products of AICD research, how they are transferred to potential users, and how actual transfer is determined.

Building science research supports installing exterior (soil side) foundation insulation as the optimal method to enhance the hygrothermal performance of new homes. With exterior foundation insulation, water management strategies are maximized while insulating the basement space and ensuring a more even temperature at the foundation wall. This project describes an innovative, minimally invasive foundation insulation upgrade technique on an existing home that uses hydrovac excavation technology combined with a liquid insulating foam. Cost savings over the traditional excavation process ranged from 23% to 50%. The excavationless process could result in even greater savings since replacement of building structures, exterior features, utility meters, and landscaping would be minimal or non-existent in an excavationless process.

In this project, Building America team IBACOS worked with a builder of single- and multifamily homes in southwestern Pennsylvania (climate zone 5) to understand its methods of successfully using polyethylene sheeting over aggregate as a capillary break beneath the slab in new construction. This builder’s homes vary in terms of whether they have crawlspaces or basements. However, in both cases, the strategy protects the home from water intrusion via capillary action (e.g., water wicking into cracks and spaces in the slab), thereby helping to preserve the durability of the home.

Full Text Available New Technologies and Science Teachers Education within the Context of Distance Learning: A CaseStudy for The University of Lagos The Open and Distance Learning (ODL education for science teachers is seen as a solution to the problems of equity and access to teacher education in Nigeria. It is used to provide cost-effective Science Teacher Education, and to train large numbers of teachers within a short period of time. The need for training science teachers through ODL systems is becoming more critical and necessary. The study explored the contribution of Science Teacher Education within the context of Open and Distance Learning in the following areas: time spent on electronics devices, skill development in the use of computer technologies and applications, Extent of use of IT in courses and course management system features. The study used a survey method. Stratified sampling technique was adopted. Two hundred and fifty (250 questionnaires were sent out and one hundred and seventy three (173 were returned. The result shows that that there is a significant positive correlation between science teachers education within the context of Open Distance Learning and time spent on electronics devices, skill development in the use of computer technologies and application, Extent of use of IT in courses and course management system features at R=0.688, 0.625, 0.165, 0.607, 0.500, with the p value of < 0.05 level of significance. This result implies that increase on each of these variables will further enhance Science Teacher Education.

The Advancing Geospatial Skills in Science and Social Sciences (AGSSS) program, funded by NSF, provides middle and high school teacher-partners with access to graduate student scientists for classroom collaboration and curriculum adaptation to incorporate and advance skills in spatial thinking. AGSSS Fellows aid in the delivery of geospatially-enhanced activities utilizing technology such as geographic information systems, remote sensing, and virtual globes. The partnership also provides advanced professional development for both participating teachers and fellows. The AGSSS program is mutually beneficial to all parties involved. This successful collaboration of scientists, teachers, and students results in greater understanding and enthusiasm for the use of spatial thinking strategies and geospatial technologies. In addition, the partnership produces measurable improvements in student efficacy and attitudes toward processes of spatial thinking. The teacher partner training and classroom resources provided by AGSSS will continue the integration of geospatial activities into the curriculum after the project concludes. Time and resources are the main costs in implementing this partnership. Graduate fellows invest considerable time and energy, outside of academic responsibilities, to develop materials for the classroom. Fellows are required to be available during K-12 school hours, which necessitates forethought in scheduling other graduate duties. However, the benefits far outweigh the costs. Graduate fellows gain experience in working in classrooms. In exchange, students gain exposure to working scientists and their research. This affords graduate fellows the opportunity to hone their communication skills, and specifically allows them to address the issue of translating technical information for a novice audience. Teacher-partners and students benefit by having scientific expertise readily available. In summation, these experiences result in changes in teacher

Improving energy efficiency is one of the strategic objectives of the European Union for rational energy economy. To make efforts to improve energy efficiency have been obliged both small and large end-users. This article aims to show the possibilities of improving energy efficiency by introducing technical and technological process changes of pine lumber drying. The object of the research is process of drying lumber implemented in a production company, which is a key supplier of large furniture manufacturer. Pine lumber drying chamber consume about 45% of total electricity in sawmill. According to various sources, drying of 1m3 of lumber uses about 3060kWh and is dependent of inter alia: the drying process itself, the factors affecting the processing time and the desired output moisture content of the timber. The article proposals for changes in the process of drying lumber pine have been positively validated in the company, and as a result their energy consumption per 1 m3 of product declined by 18%.

Full Text Available Literature review shows minimum ability levels of Information Technology (IT resources in use are currently essential to administrators and to professionals overall. As effective as Internet may be, new milestones for economic competition and company survival are being created. It is thus required that individual IT abilities are continuously reformulated to be adequately and creatively used, and new information sources and tools actively generated, rather than passively adopted. In evaluating the evolution of the IT abilities’ acquisition in Brazil, students of Business & Administration from a university are investigated. By means of questionnaire and in-depth interview application, data were collected on students’ perceptions of acquired abilities and importance of IT competencies. Together, computing science teachers and a course coordinator views were assessed. Empirical results obtained revealed that students' IT abilities were concentrated on basic computing science functions. The integration of IT learning in classroom practices was deemed poor as compared to importance attributed. Students signalized self-sufficiency or knowledge attitudes which, as tested, have not been actually proved. Low learning results were observed on IT conceptual knowledge, indicating students’ impatience with learning without interaction, as in long-text readings or teacher-centered classes. Strong student resistance to electronic commerce was evidenced and associated to perceived risks on IT evolution.

To demonstrate the potential of GIS (geographic information system) technology and ARIA (Accessibility/Remoteness Index for Australia) as tools for medical workforce and health service planning in Australia. ARIA is an index of remoteness derived by measuring road distance between populated localities and service centres. A continuous variable of remoteness from 0 to 12 is generated for any location in Australia. We created a GIS, with data on location of general practitioner services in non-metropolitan South Australia derived from the database of RUMPS (Rural Undergraduate Medical Placement System), and estimated, for the 1170 populated localities in South Australia, the accessibility/inaccessibility of the 109 identified GP services. Distance from populated locality to GP services. Distance from populated locality to GP service ranged from 0 to 677 km (mean, 58 km). In all, 513 localities (43%) had a GP service within 20 km (for the majority this meant located within the town). However, for 173 populated localities (15%), the nearest GP service was more than 80 km away. There was a strong correlation between distance to GP service and ARIA value for each locality (0.69; P planning. Adding measures of health need and more detailed data on types and extent of GP services provided will allow more sophisticated planning.

Telemedicine has become an effective means of delivering quality healthcare in the world. Across the African continent, Telemedicine is increasingly being recognized as a way of improving access to quality healthcare. The use of technology to deliver quality healthcare has been demonstrated as an effective way of overcoming geographic barriers to healthcare in pilot Telemedicine projects in certain parts of Kumasi, Ghana. However because of poor network connectivity experienced in the pilot projects, the success of the pilot networks could not be extended to cover the whole city of Kumasi and other surrounding villages. Fortunately, recent deployment of WiMAX in Ghana has delivered higher data rates at longer distances with improved network connectivity. This paper examines the feasibility of using WiMAX in deploying a city wide Mobile Telemedicine solution. The network architecture and network parameter simulations of the proposed Mobile Telemedicine network using WiMAX are presented. Five WiMAX Base Stations have been suggested to give ubiquitous coverage to the proposed Mobile Telemedicine sites in the network using adaptive 4 × 4 MIMO antenna configurations.

There is a burgeoning literature in health economic evaluation, with this form of analysis becoming increasingly influential at the health policy making level in a number of countries. However, a search of the literature reveals that in Japan, the world's second largest health care market, very little health economic evaluation has been undertaken. The main reason for the lack of interest in economic evaluation is that the fee-for-service and strict price regulation that characterises the system of health care financing in Japan is not conducive to this form of analysis. Moreover, the government and many researchers are satisfied that the current organisation of health care has given long life and low infant mortality at low cost. Even if it is accepted that low health care costs and good health prevail in Japan, slower economic growth rates, an ageing population and the development of new medical technologies will place increasing pressure on health care resources and will necessitate a more rational use of these resources. Good economic evaluation, by weighing benefits against costs, has an important role to play.

path of the 1980s. The third stage is the emerging markets of the 1990s and 2000s, including countries such as India and China. Within these different stages, common elements in government policy strategies can be identified as essential for a sustainable and successful innovation process. These can......Wind turbines have become a mainstream technology, a first choice for many when investing in new electricity generation facilities. This comparative casestudy addresses how governmental policy has been formulated to support the wind turbine innovation and diffusion process. Three innovation stages...... and corresponding innovation strategies are identified. The first stage is the early movers of the 1970s and early 1980s, including pioneer countries such as Denmark, the United States, Germany, and the Netherlands. The second stage is the booming markets of the 1990s, guided by the successful Danish innovation...

in much knowledge creation research, the empirical insights come from a casestudy in a Chinese startup SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) within the emerging industry of visual intelligence/surveillance systems. The findings, extracted from semi-structured interviews as well as observations, suggest......, the analysis elicits that counter to the prevailing emphasis on linguistic verbalisation and verbal group interaction, field tests and prototypes are better tools for externalisation and the further development of advanced technical knowledge. The upfront taxation of stock options is a barrier, but the lack...... of consent requirements when collecting information and a willing population makes China an ideal test bed for visual intelligence technologies. The chapter exposes the shortcomings of the existing knowledge creation theory and bridges these with insights on how to overcome them in different contexts...

Full Text Available As a process of transferring skills, knowledge, technologies, methods of manufacturing and facilities among organizations, the transfer of technology is instrumental for boosting the economy through creation of competitive products, new jobs and a better quality of life. The stagnant environment for technology transfers in Macedonia in the post-privatisation era is a result of a combination of factors. Among them is the outdated educational system that does not boost entrepreneurial spirit and innovation thinking. Main purpose of this paper is to examine the current status, conditions, anomalies and challenges for technology transfer in the Republic of Macedonia, as well as the potential for development and possibilities for improvement of the process. Through a lens of the technology transfer paradigm, this exploratory study will present a case in which the Foundation Business Start-up Centre in Macedonia, as a technology transfer agent provided links and cooperative platform for creation of new technologies and innovations within the local SME ecosystem. The focus will be on a couple of initiatives for technology development and transfer in a domestic context. Results from the process of implementation of these initiatives will be discussed, along with their stimulating impact on the environment for technology transfer.

Full Text Available Mobile applications are on the rise globally and Nigeria as one of the leading countries in Africa in internet and mobile phone consumption should not be left behind. Mobile phones are affordable and now come with a lot of processing power. Applications written on mobile devices can go a long way in solving some really serious problems. The objective of this paper, therefore is to showcase a mobile application in windows phone platform that loads locations of police stations close to the user through his/her GPS coordinate readings. It goes further to show the need of having Nigerians developing applications for Nigerians using tools like the Android ADT and the windows phone SDK. Agile development methodology was used in this sample as it supports increments which makes development circle flexible and allows developers to focus on a feature at a time depending on the size of the team. It was established that having locals develop applications for their communities in most cases, lead to development of applications that are really geared towards solving users’ problems.

In this project, the Building Science Corporation team studied a historic brick building in Lawrence, Massachusetts, which is being renovated into 10 condominium units and adding insulation to the interior side of walls of such masonry buildings.

PeaceHealth is a multistate, not-for-profit integrated delivery network that owns and operates five acute care hospitals, one critical access hospital, and twenty-five outpatient clinics. PeaceHealth employs approximately two hundred physicians and seventy allied health professionals; it has relationships with one thousand affiliated physicians. In 1990, PeaceHealth developed a set of strategic priorities for delivering seamless care across the continuum, and creating partnerships between caregivers and patient-consumers. A major component of these strategies was development and implementation of the technology, knowledge, organizational, and community infrastructures that would support delivering and using high-quality, timely information when and where it is needed for effective clinical, operational, and financial decision making. Executing this strategy has resulted in implementation of standard enterprisewide information systems, including a computer-based patient record system in inpatient and outpatient settings, tactical and strategic decision support systems, a well-developed intranet and access to the Internet, and a knowledgeable workforce that have enabled PeaceHealth to support and improve its services and business by bringing interactive information directly to patients, caregivers, managers, directors, and executives. This casestudy discusses the drivers behind the development of this strategy, specific components of the information management and information technology infrastructure, examples of the impact they have had on patients, caregivers, and the organization, and lessons learned.

Over the last two decades observing capacity for the global ocean has increased dramatically. Emerging sensor technologies for dissolved gases, nutrients and bio-optical properties in seawater are allowing extension of in situ observations beyond the traditionally measured salinity, temperature and pressure (CTD). However the effort to extend observations using autonomous instruments and platforms carries the risk of losing the level of data quality achievable through conventional water sampling techniques. We will present results from a casestudy with the SeaCycler profiling winch focusing on quality control of the in-situ measurements. A total of 13 sensors were deployed from May 2016 to early 2017 on SeaCycler's profiling sensor float, including CTD, dissolved oxygen (O2, 3 sensors), carbon dioxide (pCO2, 2 sensors), nutrients, velocity sensors, fluorometer, transmissometer, single channel PAR sensor, and others. We will highlight how multiple measurement technologies (e.g. for O2 and CO2) complement each other and result in a high quality data product. We will also present an initial assessment of the bio-optical data, their implications for seasonal phytoplankton dynamics and comparisons to climatologies and ocean-color data products obtained from the MODIS satellite.

The UK's bioscience research base is one of the country's genuine long-term economic assets. It is critically important for the UK not to repeat past mistakes, when financial exploitation of innovative and groundbreaking bioresearch went overseas. This study reviews commercialization from the Department of Biological Sciences at Warwick University…

This paper aims to identify the gaps in management education highlighted by 3 primary stakeholders: students, faculty and alumni. The study tries to address the issue of relevance and compatibility of management education and investigates areas of improvement perceived by respondents. The paper assumes that business departments of universities…

This study re-visits an organisation that defined its knowledge-management strategy in 2008-9 applying an established strategy-intellectual capital alignment framework. It addresses questions "How has knowledge management evolved at ENTEL, and what lessons can be learnt? Does the strategy-knowledge management alignment framework applied at…

South Africa is currently faced with the challenge of undesirably low through put rates in higher education. The need to keep students interested and motivated to succeed are key objectives of many lecturers and institutions. Empirical studies have shown that one of the factors influencing student success at university is student engagement. This…

The transfer of NASA technolgy to rehabilitative applications of artificial limbs is studied. Human factors engineering activities range from orthotic manipulators to tiny dc motors and transducers to detect and transmit voluntary control signals. It is found that bicarbon implant devices are suitable for medical equipment and artificial limbs because of their biological compatibility with human body fluids and tissues.

This paper examines experimental and algorithmic contributions of advanced calculators (graphing and computer algebra system, CAS) in teaching the concept of "diagonalization," one of the key topics in Linear Algebra courses taught at the undergraduate level. Specifically, the proposed hypothesis of this study is to assess the effective…

In Taiwan, the National Science Council has implemented the High Scope Program (HSP) since 2006. The purpose of this study was to analyze the development and effectiveness of senior high school HSP courses on emerging technology. This study used a course on virtual reality as an example, to investigate the influence of emerging technology courses…

energy policy documents, equipment manufacturers, tariff schedules, etc. In the second part analysis was carried out based on the data collected through stake holder level surveys. For doing this, sample surveys of residential, commercial and industrial firms were conducted through structured questionnaires. Policy makers and wind energy developers were also interviewed to understand their perception on barriers to RETs. The barriers that emerged would help to understand the factors that need to be addressed which in turn play an important role in policy analysis and speedy implementation of these RETs. The major findings of the study are as follows: In the case of solar-water heating (SWH), the adoption levels were very low. As already mentioned, electric water heaters are being used by majority of the consumers in all the sectors. A small percentage of commercial and industrial establishments use SWHs (< 10% of total) while wind energy developers supply a small amount of energy (less than 1% of the total) to the utilities. The awareness level about RETs varies with the type of consumer. In the commercial and industrial sectors, majority of the consumers are aware about the SWH, its costs and benefits. In the case of residential sector, a significant percentage are still unaware about this technology. Renewable energy technologies encounter a variety of barriers, as summarised below: 1) Information and awareness; 2) Financial and Economic; 3) Technological; 4) Institutional; and 5) Market. For the effective penetration of RETs, it is necessary for the consumers, utilities and the government to enlarge their role by active participation in the penetration programmes. The cost of saved demand is much lower than that of augmenting supply in centralised power plants. Hence, programmes for implementing these technologies needs to be integrated into the power planning and management process. It would be very desirable if every State Electricity Board (SEB) formulates a

energy policy documents, equipment manufacturers, tariff schedules, etc. In the second part analysis was carried out based on the data collected through stake holder level surveys. For doing this, sample surveys of residential, commercial and industrial firms were conducted through structured questionnaires. Policy makers and wind energy developers were also interviewed to understand their perception on barriers to RETs. The barriers that emerged would help to understand the factors that need to be addressed which in turn play an important role in policy analysis and speedy implementation of these RETs. The major findings of the study are as follows: In the case of solar-water heating (SWH), the adoption levels were very low. As already mentioned, electric water heaters are being used by majority of the consumers in all the sectors. A small percentage of commercial and industrial establishments use SWHs (< 10% of total) while wind energy developers supply a small amount of energy (less than 1% of the total) to the utilities. The awareness level about RETs varies with the type of consumer. In the commercial and industrial sectors, majority of the consumers are aware about the SWH, its costs and benefits. In the case of residential sector, a significant percentage are still unaware about this technology. Renewable energy technologies encounter a variety of barriers, as summarised below: 1) Information and awareness; 2) Financial and Economic; 3) Technological; 4) Institutional; and 5) Market. For the effective penetration of RETs, it is necessary for the consumers, utilities and the government to enlarge their role by active participation in the penetration programmes. The cost of saved demand is much lower than that of augmenting supply in centralised power plants. Hence, programmes for implementing these technologies needs to be integrated into the power planning and management process. It would be very desirable if every State Electricity Board (SEB) formulates a

IT governance is a set of organizational structures ensuring decision-making rights and responsibilities with regard to the organization’s IT assets. This qualitative study was carried out to identify the IT governance domains in teaching hospitals affiliated to Iran University of Medical Sciences. There were 10 heads of IT departments and 10 hospital directors. Semi structured interviews used for data collection. To analyze the data content analysis was applied. All the interviewees (100%) b...

The advantages and limitations of solar photovoltaic (PV) systems for energy generation are reviewed under various physical efficiency limits and financial assistance programs. Recent increases in utility and fuel costs in poultry production as well as public awareness of and demand for green power or renewable energy sources have given renewed interest in alternative energy sources. This study seeks to investigate the impact of alternative energy programs, grants and other incentives on the feasibility of solar PV systems in several solar regions within Tennessee's poultry industry. Preliminary results show that incentives exceeding current levels before adoption of solar PV systems would be financially beneficial. (author)

In this study, the U.S. Department of Energy’s team Building America Partner¬ship for Improved Residential Construction (BA-PIRC) worked with Kinsley Construction Company to evaluate the real-world performance of insulated sid¬ing when applied to an existing home. A 1960s home was selected for analysis. It is located in a cold climate (zone 6) where the addition of insulated siding and a carefully detailed water-resistive barrier have the potential to offer significant benefits. In particular, the team quantified building airtightness and heating energy use as a function of outdoor temperatures before and after the installa¬tion of the insulated siding.

The country’s first Zero Energy Ready manufactured home that is certified by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is up and running in Russellville, Alabama. The manufactured home was built by a partnership between Southern Energy Homes and the Advanced Residential Integrated Energy Solutions Collaborative (ARIES), which is a DOE Building America team. The effort was part of a three-home study including a standard-code manufactured home and an ENERGY STAR® manufactured home. Cooling-season results showed that the building used half the space-conditioning energy of a manufactured home built to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD’s) Manufactured Home Construction and Safety Standards. These standards are known collectively as the HUD Code, which is the building standard for all U.S. manufactured housing.

Full Text Available Most of technological innovations in agro-food systems are created by “supporting industries”, the group where packaging industries are inserted. This article presents the packaging innovations used in food industries, particularly, the active packaging. This paper deals with an adoption case of a degassing one-way valve, describing this innovation and its impacts in two coffee companies. This study can be classified as a documental, qualitative-descriptive and empirical research, using indirect documentation technique and casestudy analysis. According to this case, the valve made possible the diversification of the company product line and product quality improvement. There were no complications involving an additional cost to the customers. However, it has been observed that this additional cost from technology adoption makes difficult the diffusion of this valve in other similar products.Grande parcela das inovações tecnológicas dos sistemas agroindustriais é gerada pelas “indústrias de apoio”, grupo no qual as indústrias de embalagens se inserem. Esse artigo discute as inovações em embalagens destinadas à indústria de alimentos, em especial as chamadas embalagens ativas. Discute-se o caso de adoção da válvula unidirecional de alívio de gases, descrevendo a inovação e seus impactos em duas indústria processadoras de café nas empresas. A pesquisa desenvolvida é de ordem documental e qualitativo-descritiva de caráter empírica, usando técnica de análise de documentação indireta e estudo de caso . No caso abordado, a válvula possibilitou a diversificação da linha de produtos e o incremento da sua qualidade, não havendo complicações no que se refere ao repasse do custo adicional para o consumidor desse produto. Contudo, verifica-se que esse custo adicional da adoção da tecnologia dificulta a difusão da válvula em produtos similares.

Full Text Available The correct choice and customization of an orthosis are crucial to obtain the best comfort and efficiency. This study explored the feasibility of a multivariate quantitative assessment of the functional efficiency of lower limb orthosis through a novel wearable system. Gait basographic parameters and energetic indexes were analysed during a Six-Minute Walking Test (6-MWT through a cost-effective, non-invasive polygraph device, with a multichannel wireless transmission, that carried out electro-cardiograph (ECG; impedance-cardiograph (ICG; and lower-limb accelerations detection. Four subjects affected by Post-Polio Syndrome (PPS were recruited. The wearable device and the semi-automatic post-processing software provided a novel set of objective data to assess the overall efficiency of the patient-orthosis system. Despite the small number of examined subjects, the results obtained with this new approach encourage the application of the method thus enlarging the dataset to validate this promising protocol and measuring system in supporting clinical decisions and out of a laboratory environment.

IT governance is a set of organizational structures ensuring decision-making rights and responsibilities with regard to the organization’s IT assets. This qualitative study was carried out to identify the IT governance domains in teaching hospitals affiliated to Iran University of Medical Sciences. There were 10 heads of IT departments and 10 hospital directors. Semi structured interviews used for data collection. To analyze the data content analysis was applied. All the interviewees (100%) believed that decisions upon hospital software needs could be made in a decentralized fashion by the IT department of the university. Most of the interviewees (90%) believed that there were policies for logistics and maintenance of networks, purchase and maintenance, standards and general policies in the direction of the policies of the ministry of health and medical education. About 80% of the interviewees believed that the current emphasis of the hospital’s IT unit and the hospital management for outsourcing of services were in the format of specialized contracts and under supervision of the university Statistic and IT department. A hospital strategic committee is an official organizational group consisting of hospital executives, heads of IT and multiple functional areas and business units in a hospital. In this committee, “the head of hospital” acts as the director of IT activities and ensures that IT strategies are alignment with the hospital business strategies. PMID:25948446

The ARIES Collaborative, a U.S. Department of Energy Building America research team, partnered with NeighborWorks America affiliate Homeowners' Rehab Inc. (HRI) of Cambridge, Massachusetts, to study improvements to the central hydronic heating system in one of the nonprofit's housing developments. The heating controls in the three-building, 42-unit Columbia Cambridge Alliance for Spanish Tenants housing development were upgraded. Fuel use in the development was excessive compared to similar properties. A poorly insulated thermal envelope contributed to high energy bills, but adding wall insulation was not cost-effective or practical. The more cost-effective option was improving heating system efficiency, which faced several obstacles, including inflexible boiler controls and failed thermostatic radiator valves. Boiler controls were replaced with systems that offer temperature setbacks and one that controls heat based on apartment temperature in addition to outdoor temperature. Utility bill analysis shows that post-retrofit weather-normalized heating energy use was reduced by 10%-31% (average of 19%). Indoor temperature cutoff reduced boiler runtime (and therefore heating fuel consumption) by 28% in the one building in which it was implemented. Nearly all savings were obtained during night which had a lower indoor temperature cut off (68°F) than day (73° F). This implies that the outdoor reset curve was appropriately adjusted for this building for daytime operation. Nighttime setback of heating system supply water temperature had no discernable impact on boiler runtime or gas bills.

Full Text Available One of the distinctive attributes of today’s successful companies is having at least one competitive advantage in one known area. Technological competency is an important advantage which helps improve the firm’s competitiveness. In fact, suitable use of new technologies can dramatically influence the innovation speed, decrease the time of product development cycle and also increase the rate of new product introduction. Firm-specific technological competencies help explain why a firm is different, how it changes over time, and whether it is capable of remaining competitive. In this study, technological competency factors (technology management, process technology, product technology are prioritized according to the competitive advantage levels(customer satisfaction, brand reputation, new product introduction, market share and competitive priorities (cost, price, quality, flexibility, time using fuzzy Analytic hierarchy process (FAHP with the aim of maximizing the nonfinancial performance at coil manufacture industry. The results indicate that within Iran coil industry, process technology is of greater importance than technology management and product technology.

This paper studies the potential application of a novel biogas upgrading technology called alkaline with regeneration (AwR). This technology uses an alkaline solution, along with carbon mineralization, to remove and store CO2 from biogas in order to create biomethane, a substitute of natural gas.

The availability of user-friendly coding software is increasing, yet teachers might hesitate to use this technology to develop for educational needs. This paper discusses studies related to technology for educational uses and introduces an evaluation application being developed. Through questionnaires by student users and open-ended discussion by…

Full Text Available This paper presents a new perspective which calls for an integration of ethics and corporate social responsibility (CSR into the company strategy as a source of competitive advantages. The research question we pose is how a company can successfully carry out this integration of CSR into its strategic management, for which a model that includes three stages – introduction, implementation and generalization of CSR – is presented. Based on an exploratory casestudy within a Spanish technology-intensive firm (Indra, we show the way this company has developed and implemented an explicit plan for the integration of ethical values and CSR initiatives into its corporate and business strategies. Although this company has established its own methodology in order to develop and implement CSR plans, it fits in essence to our three-stage model of CSR integration. In general, our analyses show a beneficial impact of the development and implementation of CSR plan for this technology-intensive company. In particular, it seems that the CSR plan enables companies to improve its’ internal and external (competitive context through a better exploration and exploitation of knowledge, its stable relationships with stakeholders and the development and improvement of intangible resources such as reputation or social capital. It is also shown that there are important factors to consider in order this process can successfully carried out, such as organizational culture, human resource practices or knowledge management systems. Future research will need to engage in largerscale confirmatory as well as longitudinal studies of the impact of CSR implementation for company performance.

This study assesses what role the CDM currently plays in relation to the transfer of GHG mitigation technologies from Annex 1 countries to non-Annex 1 countries. The study relies on multiple sources of qualitative data and is conducted as a casestudy of 13 CDM projects implemented in Malaysia. I...

This report analyses the driving forces of, and barriers to, biomass energy technology implementation with the objective of defining the most important factors behind the growth of bioenergy markets and suggesting strategies for policy makers and investors. The approach is to describe the important factors for the development of real bioenergy markets at two levels: (1) Institutional, primarily policy, and (2) market structure. Concepts from economic theory, primarily transaction cost theory and industrial organisation, are used in a qualitative way. The report is based on literature studies and field studies of bioenergy markets in three countries: the United States of America, Austria, and Sweden. It is divided into five sections. After the introduction in section one, literature with relevance for this study is reviewed in section two. In section three the energy policy and energy sectors of each country are described. The descriptions include an overview of the biomass energy sectors. Five cases of developed bioenergy markets in the three countries are presented in section four. The cases are residential heating with wood pellets in New Hampshire, United States, biomass power production in Maine, residential heating with pellets in Sweden, biomass district heating in Sweden, and biomass district heating in Austria. All markets are described in terms of the historical development, technical issues, economics, market structure and local policy influences. In the discussion in section five a number of key factors behind the success or failure of bioenergy are presented. Six factors are most important: (1) Complementaries between the bioenergy operations and another activity (for instance when the bioenergy production uses biomass waste products from another industry); (2) economics of scale within the bioenergy business through larger production series, standards, specialization etc.; (3) a competitive bioenergy market (Many sellers and buyers operate in the

Full Text Available A unique feature of the industrial revolution that brought the world to the information age was information and communication technology that emerged with the advent of the Internet. This phenomenon enabled a new type of communication and interaction and a new age has in marketing. Therefore, this research aimed to study emarketing effectiveness with regard to the role of the Internet and information and communication technology in attracting tourists to Tehran by which to study the impact and efficiency of e-marketing capabilities on the attraction of more tourists in terms of the role of the Internet and information and communication technology in upgrading the performance of customer relationship and organizational performance. For this purpose, hypotheses were developed and based on them, statistical analysis was performed. The research was applied in terms of objectives, and based on how the data is collected, it was descriptive/analytical. Given it was a casestudy of agencies in Tehran province and given there are large number of agencies in Tehran, agencies of a district were randomly selected as the statistical population and using simple randomized sampling method, and based on Cochran formula, 281 cases were selected as sample. For test of hypotheses and model indices, a questionnaire consisting of 20 questions on five-point Likert scale was used. To assess content validity and to assess the reliability, Cronbach's alpha coefficient was calculated and finally the data were analyzed using statistical software spss.

Full Text Available A lot of research works have been made concerning highway service area or solar technology and acquired great achievements. However, unfortunately, few works have been made combining the two topics together of highway service areas and solar energy saving to make a systemic research on solar technology application for highway service area. In this paper, taking West Lushan highway low-carbon service area in Jiangxi Province of China as the casestudy, the advantages, technical principles, and application methods of solar energy technology for highway service area including solar photoelectric technology and solar water heating technology were discussed based on the analysis of characteristics of highway low-carbon service area; the system types, operation mode, and installing tilt angle of the two kinds of solar systems suitable for highway service areas were confirmed. It was proved that the reduction of the cost by electricity savings of solar system was huge. Taking the investment of the solar systems into account, the payback period of solar photoelectric systems and solar water heating systems was calculated. The economic effect of the solar systems in West Lushan highway service area during the effective operation periods was also calculated and proved very considerable.

Full Text Available Given the increasing importance of technology in organizational development, considered as one of the most important issues of strategic enterprise technology strategy actually. The increasing production and consumption of electric energy in the developing world and interconnected and expand interaction with other development of industrial, trade, agriculture activities, and services power industry development has become one of the pillars. Industry is an industry study in the field of power supply providing electricity services to consumers and applicants; to determine priorities for future investment, technology strategy is to develop their technological needs thereby determine the scope of its activities in the future. This study was conducted to answer the following questions: What are the industry's technological capabilities? Technologies required by industry to offer new services to their business in what condition? What are important development technologies of this industry? The models presented in this article were positioning school and then focus on these patterns according to industry characteristics studied, Hax and Majlof was considered as the base model and making changes in some of its parts, including technology risk assessment in addition to the capability and attractiveness, the final model was presented.

Integration of technology ( e.g. measuring with sensors, video measurement, and modeling) into secondary-school science teaching is a need globally recognized. A central issue of incorporating these technologies in teaching is how to turn manipulations of equipment and software into manipulations of ideas. Therefore, preparation for pre-service teachers to apply ICT tools should be combined with the issues of minds-on inquiring and meaning-making. From this perspective, we developed a course within the post-graduate teacher-education program in the Netherlands. During the course, pre-service teachers learnt not only to master ICT skills but also to design, teach, and evaluate an inquiry-based lesson in which the ICT tool was integrated. Besides three life sessions, teachers' learning scenario also consisted of individual tasks which teachers could carry out mostly in the school or at home with support materials and online assistance. We taught three iterations of the course within a design-research framework in 2013, 2014 and collected data on the teacher learning processes and outcomes. The analyses of these data from observation, interviews, questionnaires, and documents were to evaluate implementation of the course, then suggest for revisions of the course set-up, which was executed and then assessed again in a subsequent casestudy. Main outcomes of the three casestudies can be summarized as follows: within a limited time (3 life sessions spread over 2-3 months), the heterogeneous groups of pre-service teachers achieved a reasonable level of competence regarding the use of ICT tools in inquiry-based lessons. The blended set-up with support materials, especially the Coach activities and the lesson-plan form for an ICT-integrated inquiry-based lesson, contributed to this result under the condition that the course participants really spent considerable time outside the life sessions. There was a need for more time for hands-on, in-group activities in life

The study centers on the necessity,the workflow and the synthetically integrated methods (Principal Compo-nent Analysis(PCA),Andytical Hierarchy Process(AHP) and Fuzzy Comprerhensive Evaluation(FCE)of strategic environ-ment assessment(SEA)on land-use planning.The whole article includes three main parts:firstly,some attribute database,graphic-base and the spatial transform matrix,which reflect the change of regional land-use pattern,can be ob-tained by GIS technique;secondly,adopting fitting method of trend-suface analysis will convert environment monitoring data from scattered spots to regular control spots,based on which we can perform regional environment impact assess-ment;finally,Changchun Economic and Technological Developmen Zone is chosen as a casestudy on land-use planning.Through those efforts the results may be obtained as follows:1)according to transform matrix,the possibility of transforma-tion from one land-use to another can be obtained after the planning is carried out;2)environment ruality would change as a result of the change of land-use pattern;3)the SEA on land-use plan is an effective tool to make land-use pattern more reasonable.

The purpose of this case-study is to narrate a secondary science teacher's experience of his professional development (PD) education and training in innovative technologies (IT) in the context of engaging students in environmental research projects The sources from which the narrative is derived include (1) the science teacher's reflective reports during three summer institute programs and (2) the science teacher's reflective reports while subsequently engaging students in IT-embedded environmental research projects in his classroom. The science teacher's explanations for changes in students' perception of their IT fluency illuminate his personal narrative. The science teacher attributed his growth and significant changes in students' perceptions of their IT fluency to the following mechanisms: (a) a personal commitment to developing his own and his students' IT abilities in the context of doing environmental research projects, and (b) an increase in class time devoted to science education due to school-time scheduling policy. The study implies that immersive professional development opportunities have the potential to produce significant increases in students' perceptions of their IT fluency.

The study centers on the necessity, the workflow and the synthetically integrated methods (Principal Component Analysis(PCA), AndyticalHierarchyProcess(AHP) andFuzzy ComprerhensiveEvaluation(FCE)) of strategic environment assessment (SEA) on land-use planning. The whole article includes three main parts: firstly, some attributedatabase, graphic-base and the spatial transform matrix, which reflect the change of regional land-use pattern, can be obtained by GIS technique; secondly, adopting fitting method of trend-surface analysis will convert environment monitoringdata from scattered spots to regular control spots, based on which we can perform regional environment impact assessment; finally, Changchun Economic and Technological Developmen Zone is chosen as a casestudy on land-use planning.Through those efforts the results may be obtained as follows: 1 ) according to transform matrix, the possibility of transformation from one land-use to another can be obtained after the planning is carried out; 2) environment quality would changeas a result of the change of land-nsc pattern; 3) the SEA on land-use plan is an effective tool to make land-use patternmore reasonable.

This study described how students can apply science concepts to a Design and Technology task. It also examined whether the students could transfer their scientific knowledge to their design of technology. The study was conducted at an urban school in Philadelphia where a sample of 36 eighth grade students were taught a science unit, Energy, Machines, and Motion, and engaged in a technology design task that was chosen based on the scientific content of the unit. Two approaches of relating teaching science to technological design were observed and described. Through the first approach, the students were given technology lessons in addition to their science lessons. This was to provide them with the technological knowledge that they needed in designing technology such as learning about the design process, selection of appropriate materials, and selection of appropriate tools and how to use them. Also, the students were taught the social skills that will enable them to develop an effective collaborative relationship with their peers such as conflict-management and brainstorming. Through the second approach, the students were taught the science unit and then at the end of the unit the students were given the design task as an assessment of their scientific knowledge. The students' experience of designing technology for each approach was described. The study was conducted using multiple tools and instruments such as observation, videotaping, interviews, and testing. The students were also given the survey PATT-USA to measure their attitude toward technology. The study showed that the students' learning of science was impacted by their weak prerequisite knowledge in science, their poor verbal and written communication skills and their style as dependent learners. Also, the study showed the great impact of the school and classroom cultures on the participation of the students in a Design and Technology activity. The students in this study showed great resistant to

Systemic understanding of potential research activities and available technology seeds at university level is an essential condition to promote interdisciplinary and vision-driven collaboration in an attempt to cope with complex sustainability and environmental problems. Nonetheless, any such practices have been hardly conducted at universities…

Systemic understanding of potential research activities and available technology seeds at university level is an essential condition to promote interdisciplinary and vision-driven collaboration in an attempt to cope with complex sustainability and environmental problems. Nonetheless, any such practices have been hardly conducted at universities…

This paper presents the results obtained from qualitative research conducted with a group of users involved in Case Management, a program which was developed by a company of a medical group to provide healthcare for patients in situations of high vulnerability. The study sought to create a perspective in which the experience of the user, instead of representing merely additional or superimposed information upon the quality of services, is considered an inherent part of the arrangement under scrutiny, with the ability to highlight its internal qualities and contradictions. The results show how patients attribute high value to the healthcare they receive, with special emphasis on the bond that is created with the health team in charge, even when contact is only by telephone. Simultaneously, they are able to perceive the double-sided aspect presented by the regulation/assistance model found in the technological arrangement at issue, notably in relation to the prominent role played by the economic bias towards cost reduction--which lies in the forefront of its operationalization--and the final impact it has upon the final quality of healthcare.

Full Text Available This study aims to approach the issue of gain-sharing measurement in an information technology outsourcing relationship as a component of remuneration policies for contracted services among companies. The methodology encompass three steps: (i bibliographical revision on outsourcing relationship in information technology environment and pricing in outsourcing decisions; (ii a casestudy in which the problem of gain-sharing measurement emerges in the relationship (providing information technology services between two large-scale international companies that operate in Brazilian credit card market; (iii discussion of the findings of the casestudy on basis of the revised literature. The contributions of the paper are: (i to identify the main issues related to outsourcing decisions and pricing in outsourcing relationship; (ii to present a description of the characteristics and behavior of costs in information technology environment; and (iii to provide an analysis and discussion about the method adopted by the companies for gain-sharing measurement. The bibliographical research showed a lack of literature regarding to the specific subject of gain-sharing measurement. The findings of the empirical study indicated that information technology companies are highly structured with fixed costs and that gain-sharing method adopted by studied companies corresponds to costs savings measured by cost-accounting concepts of price and efficiency cost variances according to budget parameters. In addiction, it was observed that the method adopted contributes to get more transparency and capability to analyze the business relationship by both receiver and provider companies.Este estudo tem o objetivo de analisar o problema da mensuração do gain-sharing na terceirização de serviços de tecnologia da informação como um componente da política de remuneração dos serviços contratados entre duas organizações. A metodologia adotada compõe-se de três passos

Full Text Available In this survey, we have investigated whether an easy and comprehensive information technology (IT infrastructure could contribute on auditing system in Iranian business society. The survey designs and distributes a questionnaire based on technology adoption method (TAM among employees of bank Melli Iran who participated in our survey in Likert scale and using t-student and Kruskal-Wallis test examined different hypotheses. The results of our survey have indicated that there was a relationship between a good perception in usefulness of IT implementation and accepting recent advances of IT and auditors with good perception on IT are able to take advantage of recent advances of IT in their auditing skills. In addition, our survey has concluded that ease of IT implementation could create motivation among auditors to automate their traditional skills. While educational background played an important role on our survey, age and job experience did not have any impact on our survey.

The purpose of this study was to investigate classroom management and discipline problems that Information Technology teachers have faced, and to reveal underlying reasons and possible solutions of these problems by considering the views of parents, teachers, and administrator. This study was designed as qualitative study. Subjects of this study…

that time Roskilde University Centre and Learning Lab Denmark, DK)3. The case here presented is based on results from research activity carried out over a 1 year period (spring 2006 - spring 2007). Detailed information concerning participation in the project was collected in two DHSs only: the Sports Day...

Evaluation of new technology in sports medicine is supposed to promote improvements in the care of patients. It is also supposed to prohibit technology that can harm patients. This evaluation process is not perfect and at times can promote technology that not only does not help patients but may harm them. Two examples of new sports medicine technology that were widely adopted but eventually abandoned are thermal capsulorrhaphy for treatment of shoulder instability and the Gore-Tex prosthetic ligament (W. L. Gore & Associates, Flagstaff, AZ) for patients with anterior cruciate ligament deficiency. On analysis of the quick adoption of these 2 failed procedures, certain recommendations are apparent for improvement of the evaluation process. There must be a sound rationale behind any new technology, basic science research into the theory of the medical technology, and demonstrated improvements in animal models and clinical studies that are prospective cohort studies or randomized controlled trials, and finally, there must be careful follow-up and postmarket surveillance.

The success of new food technologies largely depends on consumers' behavioral responses to the innovation. In Eastern Africa, and Uganda in particular, a technology to process matooke into flour has been introduced with limited success. We measure and apply the Food technology Neophobia Scale (FTNS) to this specific case. This technique has been increasingly used in consumer research to determine consumers' fear for foods produced by novel technologies. Although it has been successful in developed countries, the low number and limited scope of past studies underlines the need for testing its applicability in a developing country context. Data was collected from 209 matooke consumers from Central Uganda. In general, respondents are relatively neophobic towards the new technology, with an average FTNS score of 58.7%, which hampers the success of processed matooke flour. Besides socio-demographic indicators, 'risk perception', 'healthiness' and the 'necessity of technologies' were key factors that influenced consumer's preference of processed matooke flour. Benchmarking the findings against previous FTNS surveys allows to evaluate factor solutions, compare standardized FTNS scores and further lends support for the multidimensionality of the FTNS. Being the first application in a developing country context, this study provides a case for examining food technology neophobia for processed staple crops in various regions and cultures. Nevertheless, research is needed to replicate this method and evaluate the external validity of our findings.

We present a model developed to study the increase of self-consumption of photovoltaic (PV) power by smart charging of electric vehicles (EVs) and vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology. Whereas previous studies mostly use large EV fleets in their models, our focus is on a smaller scale. We apply the mode

This paper reports on a two-year casestudy of university lecturers' professional learning about digital technologies, and their development of associated innovative teaching practices. During this time, new hardware and software, as well as planned professional development (PD) opportunities, were made available to assist lecturers in a…

Presented is a casestudy of a college program focused upon the application of science and technology to development in less developed countries. The activities described are those of the University of Hawaii's College of Tropical Agriculture. This program's history, components, problems, and future prospects are discussed in an attempt to learn…

This paper examines specific technological and pedagogical parameters in relation to teleconference, namely the "perceived ease of use", the "perceived usefulness", the "social presence" and the "intention to use". A casestudy was conducted involving postgraduate students from a modular course of the School…

This paper examines specific technological and pedagogical parameters in relation to teleconference, namely the "perceived ease of use", the "perceived usefulness", the "social presence" and the "intention to use". A casestudy was conducted involving postgraduate students from a modular course of the School…

This single instrumental qualitative casestudy explores and thickly describes job performance outcomes based upon the manner in which self-directed learning activities of a purposefully selected sample of 3 construction managers are conducted, mediated by the use of Web 2.0 technology. The data collected revealed that construction managers are…

The research aims to investigate what key success factors (KSFs) of technological innovation in KAERI are, and to suggest how these findings are utilized for KAERI. In order to achieve these goals we have employed casestudy based on in-depth interview and literature review. And there are two fields of research in KAERI: one is nuclear energy-related research, the other is non energy-related research. The former is 'nuclear fuel cladding tube' which is an industrial product and being regarded as catch-up (or imitative) mode of technological innovation: the latter is 'HemoHIM', herbal composition of health functional food, which is consumer goods and regarded as creative (or innovative) mode of technological innovation. We found some KSFs in these two research and development cases in KAERI: firstly, to train researcher to be a 'product champion' who can fill in the gap of 'death valley' between pure research and commercialization: secondly, to build researchers' competency in order to catch up advanced countries' technological competencies. Thirdly, to amend institutional rules and regulations for commercializing processes of R and D outcomes, notably 'R and D joint venture by Government Research Institute (GRI) and private sector' fourthly, to enhance the capabilities of external management for researchers' technological innovation competency. And finally, we recommend using successful R and D cases as educational materials when training young researchers for sharing old generations' experiences and tacit knowledge.

Full Text Available One of the basic purposes in developing countries had been reduction of their technological gap in different eras. So, technology transfer in developing countries has become one of the key factors of economic growth. But technology transfer is a difficult and complex process, so it can be unsuccessful and may waste time and money or undermine the national technology if performed without enough considering and study. Therefore, according to high ability of interior experts and scientists and country's condition to have a successful technology transfer, Reverse Engineering is used as an effective factor. In this paper supporting 15 experts and using Fuzzy Delphi Method, the effective factors on success of technology transfer by reverse engineering in aviation engines industry will be recognized and then prioritized by members of statistical sample and Analytical Network Process (ANP. Finally, we will have three components, technical knowledge for redesign, technical knowledge for producing, and organizational association with original country that are the most important among the other ten selected components.

This column provides original articles on innovations in casestudy teaching, assessment of the method, as well as casestudies with teaching notes. This month's issue discusses using casestudies to test for knowledge or lessons learned.

This column provides original articles on innovations in casestudy teaching, assessment of the method, as well as casestudies with teaching notes. This month's issue discusses using casestudies to test for knowledge or lessons learned.

Climate change and technology development can affect crop productivity in future conditions. Precise estimation of crops yield change as affected by climate and technology in the future is an effective approach for management strategies. The aim of this study was to estimate the impacts of climate change, technology improvement, CO2 enrichment, and overall impacts on wheat yield under future conditions. Wheat yield was projected for three future time periods (2020, 2050 and 2080) compared to baseline year (2011) under two scenarios of IPCC Special Report on Emission Scenarios (SRES) including SRES-A2 as regional economic scenario and SRES-B1 as global environmental scenario in Azarbaijan region (NW of Iran). A linear regression model, describing the relationship between wheat yield and historical year, was developed to investigate technology development effect. The decision support system for agro-technology transfer (DSSAT4.5) was used to evaluate the influence of climate change on wheat yield. The most positive effects were found for wheat yield as affected by technology in all studied regions. Under future climate change, the SRES projected a decrease in yield, especially in West Azarbaijan region. When the effects of elevated CO2 were considered, all regions resulted to increase in wheat yield. Considering all components effect in comparison with baseline (2011), yield increase would range from 5% to 38% across all times, scenarios and regions. According to our findings, it seems that we may expect a higher yield of wheat in NW Iran in the future if technology development continues as well as past years. (Author)

This paper presents the outcome of a study involved in identifying and ranking the barriers to the promotion of cleaner and energy efficient technologies and strategies to overcome these barriers in Sri Lanka. Barriers for renewable energy based systems such as wind and wood fuel fired plants (dendro thermal power) and cleaner technologies such as liquefied natural gas (LNG) fired combined cycle and IGCC (coal) were identified based on a survey. A direct assessment multi-criteria decision making method called Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) was used to rank the barriers. The most effective strategies are proposed to address the three major barriers for each of these technologies based on extensive discussions with all the stakeholders in the electricity industry. It was found that lack of financing instruments, high initial cost and lack of assurance of resource supply or availability are the main barriers for renewable technologies. As for cleaner fuel and technology options associated with conventional generation systems, the lack of a clear government policy, uncertainty of fuel supplies and their prices and the reliability of the technologies themselves are the major barriers. Strategies are identified to overcome the above barriers. Establishment of a proper feed in tariff, geographical diversification of installations and capacity building in commercial banks are suggested for wind power. Investment incentives, streamlining of wood production and research on site identification are proposed for wood fuel fired plants. Also the study suggests delayed implementation, combined planning with other sectors of the economy, incorporating environmental cost in planning and investment incentives as strategies for IGCC and LNG based technologies.

Full Text Available : In spite of increasing interests and trends among Iranian organizations to incorporate information and communication technology (ICT into service provision to their customers, there is still considerable gap between existing and expected diffusion. The aim of this study was to identify and evaluate main determinants of technology adoption and use on the basis of modified TAM model. The developed model was validated through survey research and data collected from a randomly selected sample of 263 students at Ferdowsi University of Mashhad. Data analysis was conducted using appropriate statistical techniques including regression, and Chaves analysis. The findings of research confirmed the validity of principle model , confirming ease of use and perceived usefulness as main determinants of technology acceptance as suggested by Davis. This study also suggested that the quality of system and personal ability to use technology were good predictors of ease of use, while social interaction and images appeared to be good predictors of perceived usefulness of technology. Furthermore, personal innovativeness proved to have significant effect on intention to use among potential ICT users.

A casestudy on A city was conducted aiming at making a detailed manual for introducing the waste-fueled power generation. The study was made in terms of a large-capacity waste-fueled power plant, estimation of the waste amount considering wide-area processing, size of facilities, comparison of four types of combustion furnace, steam condition/seawater cooling/power generating efficiency, etc. As a result, the following were proposed: As to the size of facilities, a capacity as large as possible is recommended in the light of the scale merit of costs of the waste-fueled power plant and final disposal site and the environmental preservation. Concerning the high efficient power generation, recommended are 450degC and 60-80 ata which are steam conditions for coping with high temperature corrosion. In respect to seawater cooling, the adoption is recommended making good use of locational conditions since the output energy increases by approximately 16%. Any furnace types including the fluidized bed furnace are equal. The amount of dioxin becomes below 0.1ng/Nm{sup 3} because of the control of furnace combustion temperature, residence time, catalytic desulfurization facilities, blowing of activated coal into the flue, etc. 172 figs., 78 tabs.

A company or government is only as good as its most qualified employees. This qualitative interpretative phenomenological study sought to understand what skills are needed to supervise government information technology (IT) project managers through their lived experience. Fifteen participants in the field of government IT were interviewed. They…

The purpose of this study was to examine faculty members' perception of Web 2.0 technologies on teaching and learning in higher education compared to traditional classroom teaching methods in programs at a higher education institutions to establish if relationships prevailed in their delivery of courses through the use of Web 2.0 technologies…

Teaching computer programming to young children has been considered difficult because of its abstract and complex nature. The objectives of this study are (1) to investigate whether an innovative educational technology tool called Scratch could enable young children to learn abstract knowledge of computer programming while creating multimedia…

A study of 240 instructors of kaizen (continuous quality improvement) and technology transfer in overseas assignments for Toyota found that commitment to work and corporate cultural values were significant. Instructors recognized the responsibility and challenges of communicating and transferring their know-how across cultures. (SK)

The study was conducted to determine the effectiveness of Information Communication and Technology tools viz DLP (Distance Learning Projector) and Computer/Laptop in comparison with selected instructional media for teaching primary and secondary school pupils. It examined the effect of grade on the performance of the pupils taught with four…

The main objective of this study is to explore the impact of integrating Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology and the Electronic Product Code (EPC) network into one specific supply chain in the retail industry and investigate their potentials as enablers of Mobile Business (m-business).

The aim of this research study is to explore the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) in classes at the first stage of primary schools, specifically in the Czech Republic. Firstly, the authors discuss the current state of this research issue, and secondly, they describe their own research which should clarify how, why and how…

A study of 240 instructors of kaizen (continuous quality improvement) and technology transfer in overseas assignments for Toyota found that commitment to work and corporate cultural values were significant. Instructors recognized the responsibility and challenges of communicating and transferring their know-how across cultures. (SK)

The present study was conducted in six (6) Indian Universities at NCR (National Capital Region) of India to explore the usage analysis of Web 2.0 technologies in learning environment by faculty members. The investigator conducted a survey with the help of structured questionnaire on 300 respondents. A total of 300 self-administered questionnaires…

Objectives: Early estimates of the commercial headroom available to a new medical device can assist producers of health technology in making appropriate product investment decisions. The purpose of this study was to illustrate how this quantity can be captured probabilistically by combining probabil

Summative content analysis was used to define methods and heuristics from each casestudy. The review process was in two parts: (1) A literature review to identify conventional research methods and (2) a summative content analysis of published casestudies, based on the identified methods and heuristics to suggest an order and priority of where and when were used. Over 200 research and design methods and design heuristics were identified. From the review of the 20 casestudies 42 were identified as being applied. The majority of methods and heuristics were applied in phase two, market choice. There appeared a disparity between the limited numbers of methods frequently used, under 10 within the 20 casestudies, when hundreds were available. Implications for Rehabilitation The communication highlights a number of issues that have implication for those involved in assistive technology new product development: •The study defined over 200 well-established research and design methods and design heuristics that are available for use by those who specify and design assistive technology products, which provide a comprehensive reference list for practitioners in the field; •The review within the study suggests only a limited number of research and design methods are regularly used by industrial design focused assistive technology new product developers; and, •Debate is required within the practitioners working in this field to reflect on how a wider range of potentially more effective methods and heuristics may be incorporated into daily working practice.

Based on data of 248 rural households in Pucheng County and Huxian County,we established the Two-Level Logit Model to analyze the willingness of farmers to adopt new technologies,its influence factors,and probability of successful adoption of new technologies.Results show that the willingness has positive correlation with whether the farmer is head of household,the educational level,occupation,agricultural loan,the number of family labor,and information dissemination channel,while it has negative correlation with non-agricultural employment proportion and whether the farmer is village cadre.In the model of the probability of farmers’successfully adopting new technologies,occupation,agricultural loan,planting area,gender and educational level are positively correlated,while age and non-agricultural employment proportion are negatively correlated.Largescale flow of rural labor plays a negative role in popularization of technologies in rural areas through influencing factors,including number of family labor,non-agricultural employment proportion,educational level,gender,and whether the farmer is village cadre.Finally,on the basis of results of empirical study,we put forward countermeasures and suggestions for strengthening ability of farmers to adopt new technologies.

Full Text Available This article aims to discuss how technological production has been affected by new organizational patterns of funding and evaluation, international transformations in terms of the reorganization of research centers, and changes in innovation practices. Researchers and scientists have had their activities redefined through new organizational formats that today are well-established. The purpose here is to verify the impacts that these tendencies have had on the scientific and technological production of Public Research Institutes. We analyzed the case of the Technological Research Institute (Instituto de Pesquisas Tecnológicas - IPT and found that from the 1990s onwards, research institutions in Brazil internalized organizational forms that enabled them to place themselves in the international agenda as reputational agents, and that the IPT internalized an international agenda, hiring new services and with new budgets. The institutions of scientific research tended to align their interests with hegemonic devices and to withdraw the participation of agents not able to make explicit the new formulas for recognition in the scientific field.

Technology-aided programs for assisting communication and leisure engagement were assessed in single-casestudies involving two men with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Study I involved a 51-year-old man with a virtually total loss of his motor repertoire and assessed a technology-aided program aimed at enabling him to (a) write and send out text messages and have incoming messages read to him and (b) establish videophone connections with his children (i.e., establish video contact and communicate with them). Study II involved a 66-year-old man with virtually no motor behavior and apparent depression and assessed a technology-aided program aimed at enabling him to (a) engage in leisure activities and make requests for basic needs and (b) use a low-demand messaging system. The results of both studies were highly encouraging. The participant of Study I could use the technology-aided program for effective communication and social interaction with multiple partners as well as for family interaction. The participant of Study II could use the technology-aided program for leisure engagement, requests, and basic family contacts/communication. The implications of technology for helping persons with severe ALS levels maintain an active and constructive role are discussed.

Full Text Available The motivation and attention of students in the classroom are on the increase of using different methods. Like other lectures, in social studies using computers and information technologies is one of the methods that keeps the interest of students alive and increases participation of them. This study, aiming at measuring attitudes of 6th grade students to information technologies is conducted by using qualitative and quasi-experimental methods. The sample of this study is comprised by students of Cizmeci Elementary School, located in Ankara Kecioren. 33 students were chosen for experimental group and 35 students were chosen for control group, comprising a total of 68 students. As a result of the study, a significant difference between total computer attitude scale points of the pre and post-tests in both experimental and control groups was determined

The purpose of this research project was to highlight the practices and philosophies of two effective--but different--social studies teachers who balance the demands of teaching in the modern era while honoring their own philosophies for teaching social studies. This project was ground in the theoretical framework provided by TPACK and used a case…

Full Text Available Technology Assisted Language Learning (TALL is an infallible means to develop profound knowledge and wide range of language skills. It instills in EFL learners an illimitable passion for task-based and skills oriented learning rather than rote memorization. New technological gadgets have commoditized a broad-based learning and teaching avenues and brought the whole learning process to life. A vast variety of authentic online- learning resources, motivational visual prompts, exciting videos, web-based interactivity and customizable language software, email, discussion forums, Skype, Twitter, apps, Internet mobiles, Facebook and YouTube have become obtrusive tools to enhance competence and performance in EFL teaching and learning realms. Technology can also provide various types of scaffolding for students learning to read. Nevertheless, instructors can also enhance their pedagogical effectiveness. However, the main focus of interest in this study is to ascertain to what extent the modern technological devices augment learners’ competence and performance specifically in vocabulary learning, grammatical accuracy and listening/ speaking skills. The remarkable scores of empirical surveys conducted in the present study reveal that TALL does assist learners to improve listening / speaking skills, pronunciation, extensive vocabulary and grammatical accuracy. The findings also manifest that the hybridity, instantaneity and super-diversity of digital learning lay far-reaching impact on learners' motivation for learning and incredibly maneuver learners to immerse in the whole learning process. Keywords: TALL learning, language skills, pedagogy, effectiveness, motivation, educators, learners

Our study group has developed a unique combined biological technology to treat high-strength organic wastewaters from the industries of dyestuff, pharmaceutical, chemical engineering and zymolysis by using the principles of anaerobic ecological niche and bio-phase separation. The study obtained five national invention patents and eight patent equipments. This technology contains four kernel processes - two-phase anaerobic-aerobic process, hydrolysis-acidification-oxidation process, UASBAF-oxidation process, and internal cycling-hydrolysis-oxidation process. Fifteen pilot projects were accomplished in the basins of Tai Lake, Huai River, Liao River and Songhua River, and their total capital investment reached 185.214 million Yuan (RMB). Compared to conventional wastewater treatment technology, the innovative technology is more cost-effective for high-strength organic wastewater treatment, can save capital investment by 15% 30%, lessen land usage by 20% to 40% and decrease the operating cost by 10% to 25%. The operating cost of treatment per cubic meter industrial wastewater could be below 0.6 to 1.4 Yuan (RMB).

Our study group has developed a unique combined biological technology to treat high-strength organic wastewaters from the industries of dyestuff, pharmaceutical, chemical engineering and zymolysis by using the principles of anaerobic ecological niche and bio-phase separation. The study obtained five national invention patents and eight patent equipments.This technology contains four kernel processes - two-phase anaerobic-aerobic process, hydrolysis-acidification-oxidation process, UASBAF-oxidation process, and internal cycling-hydrolysis-oxidation process. Fifteen pilot projects were accomplished in the basins of Tai Lake, Huai River, Liao River and Songhua River, and their total capital investment reached 185.214million Yuan (RMB). Compared to conventional wastewater treatment technology, the innovative technology is more costeffective for high-strength organic wastewater treatment, can save capital investment by 15% -30%, lessen land usage by 20% to 40% and decrease the operating cost by 10% to 25%. The operating cost of treatment per cubic meter industrial wastewater could be below 0.6 to 1.4 Yuan (RMB).

textabstractThe present article is concerned with the relationship between distributional and efficiency criteria and the objective of employment creation in a single sector, that of road construction. The work is based on a series of casestudies carried out in Iran, one such study being presented

This report documents a set of casestudies developed to estimate the cost of producing, storing, delivering, and dispensing hydrogen for light-duty vehicles for several scenarios involving metropolitan areas in Alabama. While the majority of the scenarios focused on centralized hydrogen production and pipeline delivery, alternative delivery modes were also examined. Although Alabama was used as the casestudy for this analysis, the results provide insights into the unique requirements for deploying hydrogen infrastructure in smaller urban and rural environments that lie outside the DOE’s high priority hydrogen deployment regions. Hydrogen production costs were estimated for three technologies – steam-methane reforming (SMR), coal gasification, and thermochemical water-splitting using advanced nuclear reactors. In all cases examined, SMR has the lowest production cost for the demands associated with metropolitan areas in Alabama. Although other production options may be less costly for larger hydrogen markets, these were not examined within the context of the casestudies.

Global climate change, shortage of resources and the resulting turn towards renewable sources of energy lead to a growing demand for the utilization of subsurface systems. Among these competing uses are Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS), geothermal energy, nuclear waste disposal, "renewable" methane or hydrogen storage as well as the ongoing production of fossil resources like oil, gas, and coal. The different uses of the subsurface can result in competition for the limited subsurface space, but in some cases there may also be synergetic effects, if the technologies are combined in a clever way. The idea behind this casestudy is to investigate the effects of a CCS site on a geothermal power plant operated in its vicinity and present both positive and negative impacts. During CCS operations large quantities of carbon dioxide (CO2) are injected into a storage formation. This causes a pressure increase as the brine in the formation is displaced by CO2. These elevations in pressure can have an extent of several tens of kilometers from the injection well in contrast to the much smaller extent of the CO2 plume. If geothermal power plants operate in the range influenced by pressure evaluation, this may have an impact on their performance. For example: Increased discharge of "warm" brine could be favorable for geothermal power plants as the time until thermal depletion of the reservoir may also increase Early breakthrough of the cold water front between an injection and an extraction well due to a brine discharge "pushing" the cold water front towards the extraction well may lead to a decrease in performance of the power plant Of course, there is a huge number of possible hydrogeological settings and technical configurations for geothermal power production that may be combined to an even larger number of possible scenarios. In this work however we use a simple model setup in which we incorporate and vary the parameters that we think are crucial. Only porous (not fractured

Performance advantages of the new digital technologies are widely acknowledged, but it has proven difficult for utilities to derive business cases for justifying investment in these new capabilities. Lack of a business case is often cited by utilities as a barrier to pursuing wide-scale application of digital technologies to nuclear plant work activities. The decision to move forward with funding usually hinges on demonstrating actual cost reductions that can be credited to budgets and thereby truly reduce O&M or capital costs. Technology enhancements, while enhancing work methods and making work more efficient, often fail to eliminate workload such that it changes overall staffing and material cost requirements. It is critical to demonstrate cost reductions or impacts on non-cost performance objectives in order for the business case to justify investment by nuclear operators. This Business Case Methodology approaches building a business case for a particular technology or suite of technologies by detailing how they impact an operator in one or more of the three following areas: Labor Costs, Non-Labor Costs, and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). Key to those impacts will be identifying where the savings are “harvestable,” meaning they result in an actual reduction in headcount and/or cost. The report consists of a Digital Technology Business Case Methodology Guide and an accompanying spreadsheet workbook that will enable the user to develop a business case.

Full Text Available The purposes of this research were: 1 to evaluate the Educational Technology Program (Continuing Program in Bachelor Degree curriculum which is revised in 2007 by applying CIPP model for evaluation. 2 to study the opinions of the employers about the ideal characteristics and actual characteristics of graduates. 3 to study the opinions for the requirements of the Educational Technology Program in Bachelor Degree (Continuing Program and knowledge implementation in work of graduates. 4 to make the suggestions and guidelines to improve the Educational Technology Program in Bachelor Degree (Continuing Program to achieve potentiality and responsive for the requirements of learners and employers. The sample of this research were 310 persons ; consisted of graduates in the Educational Technology Program in Bachelor Degree (Continuing Program in academic year 2006 - 2010, the committee of the Educational Technology Program in Bachelor Degree (Continuing Program , instructors and employers by using Multi-stage Random Sampling and Simple Random Sampling. The instruments of this research were the 5 levels rating scale questionnaire and the structured interview type. They consisted of 3 sets: 1 for graduates, 2 for the committee of the Educational Technology Program in Bachelor Degree (Continuing Program and 3 for instructors and employers. The research found that: 1. The results of evaluation on the Educational Technology Program in Bachelor Degree (Continuing Program which is revised in 2007 were: 1.1 The opinions of graduates to curriculum in all of aspects were average at the uncertain level which the context aspect was at the high level, input aspect was at the uncertain level, process aspect was at the uncertain level and product aspect was at the high level. 1.2 The opinions of the curriculum committee and instructors to curriculum in all of aspects were average at the high level which the context aspect was at the high level, input aspect was at the

Common Core education standards establish a clear set of specific ideas and skills that all students should be able to comprehend at each grade level. In an effort to meet these standards, educators are turning to technology for improved learning outcomes. "Cases on Technology Integration in Mathematics Education" provides a compilation…

Congress of the U.S., Washington, DC. Office of Technology Assessment.

This casestudy was conducted to analyze the cost-effectiveness of nurse practitioners (NPs), physicians' assistants (PAs), and certified nurse midwives (CNMs) by examining (1) the contributions of each group in meeting health-care needs; (2) the effect of changing the method of payment for their services on the health-care delivery system; and…

Full Text Available Being able to manage and adjust insulin doses is a key part of managing type-1 diabetes. Children and adolescents with type-1 diabetes mellitus often have serious difficulties with this dosage adjustment. Therefore, this paper aims to investigate the impact of using novel mobile, web and communication technologies in assisting their therapy and treatment. A trial was conducted in the north-eastern part of Germany to evaluate the impact of the “Mobil Diab”, a mobile diabetes management system, on the clinical outcome. 68 subjects aged between 8 and 18 years, divided randomly into control and intervention groups, were included into the study. Metrics such as changes in the quality of metabolic control, changes in psychological parameters, usability and acceptance of the technology were used for evaluation purpose. Metabolic control was mainly assessed by the mean HbAlc. Analysis showed a good acceptance of the proposed system. An overall improvement in mean levels of HbA1c was observed, however further studies will be conducted to prove evidence of the weight and BMI improvements. Moreover, initial indications of positive impact on the improvement in psychological parameters were presumed based on the result of the conducted study. The system appeared to be an efficient and time saving tool in diabetes management.

Being able to manage and adjust insulin doses is a key part of managing type-1 diabetes. Children and adolescents with type-1 diabetes mellitus often have serious difficulties with this dosage adjustment. Therefore, this paper aims to investigate the impact of using novel mobile, web and communication technologies in assisting their therapy and treatment. A trial was conducted in the north-eastern part of Germany to evaluate the impact of the "Mobil Diab", a mobile diabetes management system, on the clinical outcome. 68 subjects aged between 8 and 18 years, divided randomly into control and intervention groups, were included into the study. Metrics such as changes in the quality of metabolic control, changes in psychological parameters, usability and acceptance of the technology were used for evaluation purpose. Metabolic control was mainly assessed by the mean HbAlc. Analysis showed a good acceptance of the proposed system. An overall improvement in mean levels of HbA1c was observed, however further studies will be conducted to prove evidence of the weight and BMI improvements. Moreover, initial indications of positive impact on the improvement in psychological parameters were presumed based on the result of the conducted study. The system appeared to be an efficient and time saving tool in diabetes management.

"Ensemble" is an interdisciplinary research and development project exploring the potential role of emerging Semantic Web technologies in case-based learning across learning environments in higher education. Empirical findings have challenged the claim that cases "bring reality into the classroom" and that this, in turn, might…

Full Text Available The present study aims to explore the use and user perception of electronic resources in Siva Institute of Frontier Technology, India. A total number of 123 users were taken into account for the study through a questionnaire-based survey method. A well-structured questionnaire was designed and distributed to the selected 200 students and staff members. 123 copies of the questionnaires were returned dully filled in and the overall response rate was 61.50 percent. The questionnaire contained both open- and close-ended questions. The collected data were classified, analyzed, and tabulated by using simple statistical methods. This study covers the impact of electronic resources on students and faculty in their academic pursuit.

"Ready access to travel and to technology-enhanced social networking (e.g., Facebook or Skype) has changed the nature of study abroad to the point where today's experiences are fundamentally different from those of earlier eras" (Kinginger, 2013a, p. 345). In addition to more travel options and greater technology availability, study…

With the social networking and network socialisation have brought more text information and social relationships into our daily lives, the question of whether big data can be fully used to study the phenomenon and discipline of natural sciences has prompted many specialists and scholars to innovate their research. Though politics were integrally involved in the hyperlinked word issues since 1990s, automatic assembly of different geospatial web and distributed geospatial information systems utilizing service chaining have explored and built recently, the information collection and data visualisation of geo-events have always faced the bottleneck of traditional manual analysis because of the sensibility, complexity, relativity, timeliness and unexpected characteristics of political events. Based on the framework of Heritrix and the analysis of web-based text, word frequency, sentiment tendency and dissemination path of the Huangyan Island incident is studied here by combining web crawler technology and the text analysis method. The results indicate that tag cloud, frequency map, attitudes pie, individual mention ratios and dissemination flow graph based on the data collection and processing not only highlight the subject and theme vocabularies of related topics but also certain issues and problems behind it. Being able to express the time-space relationship of text information and to disseminate the information regarding geo-events, the text analysis of network information based on focused web crawler technology can be a tool for understanding the formation and diffusion of web-based public opinions in political events.

This column provides original articles on innovations in casestudy teaching, assessment of the method, as well as casestudies with teaching notes. This month's issue describes incorporating a journal article into the classroom by first converting it into a casestudy.

This column provides original articles on innovations in casestudy teaching, assessment of the method, as well as casestudies with teaching notes. This month's issue describes incorporating a journal article into the classroom by first converting it into a casestudy.

In our first paper we proposed a dynamic theory relating alliances and acquisitions to the evolution of a technology and the market it serves. Industry structure and critical success factors change as the underlying technology evolves from phase to phase, competitive pressures exerted on a firm vary, and companies respond by adopting changing approaches to inter- firm collaboration. During the fluid phase new technology companies often form marketing alliances with established technology firm...

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University, 20/01/2006. This thesis addresses the following research paradox: Despite continual investment in e-mediated learning technology by higher education institutions, why has technological diffusion within UK universities been a slow process? It will be argued that the level of investment in e-mediated learning technology by UK universities and the impact of this technology across higher educatio...

Full Text Available Business incubators can play a major role in helping to turn a business idea into a technology-based organization that is economically efficient. However, there is a shortage in the literature regarding the efficiency evaluation and productivity evolution of the new technology-based firms (NTBFs in the incubation scope. This study develops a model based on the data envelopment analysis (DEA methodology, which allows the incubated NTBFs to evaluate and improve the efficiency of their management. Moreover, the Malmquist index is used to examine productivity change. The index is decomposed into multiple components to give insights into the root sources of productivity change. The proposed model was applied in a casestudy with 13 NTBFs incubated. From that study, we conclude that inefficient firms invest excessively in research and development (R&D, and, on average, firms have a productivity growth in the period of study.

Business incubators can play a major role in helping to turn a business idea into a technology-based organization that is economically efficient. However, there is a shortage in the literature regarding the efficiency evaluation and productivity evolution of the new technology-based firms (NTBFs) in the incubation scope. This study develops a model based on the data envelopment analysis (DEA) methodology, which allows the incubated NTBFs to evaluate and improve the efficiency of their management. Moreover, the Malmquist index is used to examine productivity change. The index is decomposed into multiple components to give insights into the root sources of productivity change. The proposed model was applied in a casestudy with 13 NTBFs incubated. From that study, we conclude that inefficient firms invest excessively in research and development (R&D), and, on average, firms have a productivity growth in the period of study.

Integrating theory with practice has become a mandatory requirement for universities of technology. Using educational technology to supplement traditional pedagogical approaches has contributed significantly to achieving this mandate. However, which educational technologies could help improve the educational experience of students in a statistical…

Full Text Available Abstract Background An estimated 1 in 3 American adults will have diabetes by the year 2050. Nationally, South Carolina ranks 10th in cases of diagnosed diabetes compared to other states. In adults, type 2 diabetes (T2DM accounts for approximately 90-95% of all diagnosed cases of diabetes. Clinically, provider and health system factors account for Methods We describe a four-year prospective, randomized clinical trial, which will test the effectiveness of technology-assisted case management in low income rural adults with T2DM. Two-hundred (200 male and female participants, 18 years of age or older and with an HbA1c ≥ 8%, will be randomized into one of two groups: (1 an intervention arm employing the innovative FORA system coupled with nurse case management or (2 a usual care group. Participants will be followed for 6-months to ascertain the effect of the interventions on glycemic control. Our primary hypothesis is that among indigent, rural adult patients with T2DM treated in FQHC's, participants randomized to the technology-assisted case management intervention will have significantly greater reduction in HbA1c at 6 months of follow-up compared to usual care. Discussion Results from this study will provide important insight into the effectiveness of technology-assisted case management intervention (TACM for optimizing diabetes care in indigent, rural adult patients with T2DM treated in FQHC's. Trial Registration National Institutes of Health Clinical Trials Registry (http://ClinicalTrials.gov identifier# NCT01373489

Full Text Available Abstract Background Research regarding the decision to adopt and implement technological innovations in radiation oncology is lacking. This is particularly problematic since these technologies are often complex and rapidly evolving, requiring ongoing revisiting of decisions regarding which technologies are the most appropriate to support. Variations in adoption and implementation decisions for new radiation technologies across cancer centres can impact patients' access to appropriate and innovative forms of radiation therapy. This study examines the key steps in the process of adopting and implementing intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT in publicly funded cancer centres and identifies facilitating or impeding factors. Methods A multiple casestudy design, utilizing document analysis and key informant interviews was employed. Four cancer centres in Ontario, Canada were selected and interviews were conducted with radiation oncologists, medical physicists, radiation therapists, and senior administrative leaders. Results Eighteen key informants were interviewed. Overall, three centres made fair to excellent progress in the implementation of IMRT, while one centre achieved only limited implementation as of 2009. Key factors that influenced the extent of IMRT implementation were categorized as: 1 leadership, 2 training, expertise and standardization, 3 collaboration, 4 resources, and 5 resistance to change. Conclusion A framework for the adoption and implementation of complex and evolving technologies is presented. It identifies the key factors that should be addressed by decision-makers at specific stages of the adoption/implementation process.

Full Text Available The increase competitions as well as technological advancements have created motivation among business owners to look for more innovative ideas from outside their organizations. Many enterprises collaborate with other organizations to empower themselves through innovative ideas. These kinds of collaborations can be observed as a concept called Regional Innovation System. These collaborations include inter-firm collaborations, research organizations, intermediary institutions and governmental agencies. The primary objective of this paper is to evaluate relationships between Collaborative Networks and Innovation in information technology business units located in province of Tehran, Iran. The research method utilized for the present study is descriptive-correlation. To evaluate the relationships between independent and dependent variables, canonical correlation analysis (CCA is used. The results confirm the previous findings regarding the relationship between Collaborative Networks and Innovation. Among various dimensions of Collaboration, Collaboration with governmental agencies had a very small impact on the relationship between collaboration networks and innovation. In addition, the results show that in addition to affecting product innovation and process innovation, collaboration networks also affected management innovation.

affordable choices on the envelope of such simple housing. A simplified LCA (Life Cycle Assessment) evaluation on embodied energy in the proposed upgrading materials used for the housing allows assessing the environmental impact of the considered alternatives. The present study aims to find out and to propose lean technological solutions to improve users' comfort levels with simple DIY (do it yourself) modification of shelter's envelopes and basic education for the use of the housing. The paper presents the study of lean technological solutions to improve comfort conditions and durability of informal settlements located in two climate zones in the world where slums are a critical issue in the urban development. The opportunity to improve such conditions can promote an upgrading of health and wealth status in such a critical situation in which millions of people are living today. The lean, affordable and low impact technologies that have been proposed and tested by dynamic simulation could allow a widespread diffusion of the concept without burden on the strongly compromised environment. The weak and fragile areas affected by the slums have pollution problems and a main task is not to worsen them during the life of the shelters/houses.

How we can measure the impact of internet technology Web 2.0/3.0 for knowledge management? How we can use the Web 2.0/3.0 technologies for generating, evaluating, sharing, organizing knowledge in knowledge-based organization? How we can evaluate it from user-centered perspective? Article aims to provide a method for evaluate the usability of web technologies to support knowledge management in knowledge-based organizations of the various stages of the cycle knowledge management, taking into account: generating knowledge, evaluating knowledge, sharing knowledge, etc. for the modern Internet technologies based on the example of agent technologies. The method focuses on five areas of evaluation: GUI, functional structure, the way of content publication, organizational aspect, technological aspect. The method is based on the proposed indicators relating respectively to assess specific areas of evaluation, taking into account the individual characteristics of the scoring. Each of the features identified in the evaluation is judged first point wise, then this score is subject to verification and clarification by means of appropriate indicators of a given feature. The article proposes appropriate indicators to measure the impact of Web 2.0/3.0 technologies for knowledge management and verification them in an example of agent technology usability in knowledge management system.

Part of the challenge in dealing with invasive plant species is that they seldom represent a uniform, static entity. Often, an accurate understanding of the history of plant introduction and knowledge of the real levels of genetic diversity present in species and populations of importance is lacking. Currently, the role of genetic diversity in promoting the successful establishment of invasive plants is not well defined. Genetic profiling of invasive plants should enhance our understanding of the dynamics of colonization in the invaded range. Recent advances in DNA sequencing technology have greatly facilitated the rapid and complete assessment of plant population genetics. Here, we apply our current understanding of the genetics and ecophysiology of plant invasions to recent work on Australian plant invaders from the Cucurbitaceae and Boraginaceae. The Cucurbitaceae study showed that both prickly paddy melon (Cucumis myriocarpus) and camel melon (Citrullus lanatus) were represented by only a single genotype in Australia, implying that each was probably introduced as a single introduction event. In contrast, a third invasive melon, Citrullus colocynthis, possessed a moderate level of genetic diversity in Australia and was potentially introduced to the continent at least twice. The Boraginaceae study demonstrated the value of comparing two similar congeneric species; one, Echium plantagineum, is highly invasive and genetically diverse, whereas the other, Echium vulgare, exhibits less genetic diversity and occupies a more limited ecological niche. Sequence analysis provided precise identification of invasive plant species, as well as information on genetic diversity and phylogeographic history. Improved sequencing technologies will continue to allow greater resolution of genetic relationships among invasive plant populations, thereby potentially improving our ability to predict the impact of these relationships upon future spread and better manage invaders possessing

Part of the challenge in dealing with invasive plant species is that they seldom represent a uniform, static entity. Often, an accurate understanding of the history of plant introduction and knowledge of the real levels of genetic diversity present in species and populations of importance is lacking. Currently, the role of genetic diversity in promoting the successful establishment of invasive plants is not well defined. Genetic profiling of invasive plants should enhance our understanding of the dynamics of colonization in the invaded range. Recent advances in DNA sequencing technology have greatly facilitated the rapid and complete assessment of plant population genetics. Here, we apply our current understanding of the genetics and ecophysiology of plant invasions to recent work on Australian plant invaders from the Cucurbitaceae and Boraginaceae. The Cucurbitaceae study showed that both prickly paddy melon (Cucumis myriocarpus) and camel melon (Citrullus lanatus) were represented by only a single genotype in Australia, implying that each was probably introduced as a single introduction event. In contrast, a third invasive melon, Citrullus colocynthis, possessed a moderate level of genetic diversity in Australia and was potentially introduced to the continent at least twice. The Boraginaceae study demonstrated the value of comparing two similar congeneric species; one, Echium plantagineum, is highly invasive and genetically diverse, whereas the other, Echium vulgare, exhibits less genetic diversity and occupies a more limited ecological niche. Sequence analysis provided precise identification of invasive plant species, as well as information on genetic diversity and phylogeographic history. Improved sequencing technologies will continue to allow greater resolution of genetic relationships among invasive plant populations, thereby potentially improving our ability to predict the impact of these relationships upon future spread and better manage invaders possessing

The results are described of an application of multiattribute analysis to the evaluation of high leverage prototyping technologies in the automation and robotics (A and R) areas that might contribute to the Space Station (SS) Freedom baseline design. An implication is that high leverage prototyping is beneficial to the SS Freedom Program as a means for transferring technology from the advanced development program to the baseline program. The process also highlights the tradeoffs to be made between subsidizing high value, low risk technology development versus high value, high risk technology developments. Twenty one A and R Technology tasks spanning a diverse array of technical concepts were evaluated using multiattribute decision analysis. Because of large uncertainties associated with characterizing the technologies, the methodology was modified to incorporate uncertainty. Eight attributes affected the rankings: initial cost, operation cost, crew productivity, safety, resource requirements, growth potential, and spinoff potential. The four attributes of initial cost, operations cost, crew productivity, and safety affected the rankings the most.

Full Text Available Previous research in regional energy efficiency by using macro statistical data has demonstrated that technology development could improve regional energy efficiency. Since the start of reform and opening up in 1978, China has mainly adopted energy import and foreign direct investment to promote economic growth. At the same time, the country has also increased the input of technology and R&D to prompt technological reformation and imported technology absorption. However, there is limited research on the relationship between technology development and energy efficiency. Using the grounded theory method, the authors of this paper study the relationship between technology input-output and energy utilization efficiency in Shanghai over the past 30 years. They conclude that although the tactics of technology import and foreign direct investment can improve energy efficiency in the initial stages of modern industrialization, they cannot improve it continuously. In the more advanced stages of modern industrialization, the improvement of energy efficiency relies not only on increased R&D investment but also on R&D investment structure optimization and independent technological innovation.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the use of the method learning by cases for teaching food technology students at the technical university of Denmark (DTU) and to clarify if the method can be used to improve the motivation and make the students more active and thereby be more in control...... of their own learning process, to feel more secure and less frustrated. The applying of the learning by cases method at the food technology course can make the students to learn in a significantly way, where they will be more actively involved in the learning process than previous. The work with real life...

A BigData casestudy is described where multiple datasets from several satellites, high-resolution global meteorological data, social media and in-situ observations are combined using machine learning on a distributed cluster using an automated workflow. The global particulate dataset is relevant to global public health studies and would not be possible to produce without the use of the multiple big datasets, in-situ data and machine learning.To greatly reduce the development time and enhance the functionality a high level language capable of parallel processing has been used (Matlab). A key consideration for the system is high speed access due to the large data volume, persistence of the large data volumes and a precise process time scheduling capability.

Despite much fanfare, new technologies have yet to fundamentally advance student outcomes in K-12 schools or other educational settings. We believe that the system that supports the development and dissemination of educational technology tools is falling short. The key missing ingredient is rigorous evaluation. No one knows what works and for…

Technology has profoundly changed the way we learn and live. Indeed, such relationship appears to be quite complex, within IT contexts, and especially in socially and technologically rich learning environments, where related skills and learning are progressively required and fostered. Thus, if a satisfactory level of intellectual performance and…

The paper investigates impact factors of agricultural SMEs′ technological innovation by questionnaire on the survey of more than 100 agricultural SMEs of Wenzhou City of Jiangsu Province. It selects 14 major factors that influence agricultural SMEs′ technological innovation, they are capital source, enterprise culture, support from leaders, government policy support, effect of key research personnel, communication inside organization, enterprise strategy, technological development level, organizing and coordination inside organization, related information acquisition capacity, external cooperation, association and communication with consumers, change of external market and incentive measures to research personnel. Putting these factors in introductionance ordering by scores, we find out comparatively big impact factors influence agricultural SMEs′ technological innovation among them, they are technological development level, incentive measures to research personnel, capital source, government policy support and enterprise strategy. The paper also puts forward corresponding measures and suggestions: further enhance innovation consciousness and improve technological innovation level of agricultural SMEs; increase incentive measures, strengthen construction of talents team of technological innovation; express scientific research strength of local scientific research institutes and agricultural institution of higher learning, realize integration of industries, universities and research; sound government guiding and pushing mechanism, improve new policy environment of agricultural SMEs′ technological innovation.

Knowledge sharing visibility (KSV) is a critical environmental factor which can reduce social loafing in knowledge sharing (KS). This is especially true in ICT [information and communication technology]-based KS in learning organisations. As such, it is imperative that we better understand how to design technology enabled knowledge management…

Healthcare providers face high demands for technology based healthcare services due to global population increases and adapting information technology (IT) to achieve quality patient care. IT has become center stage in the operations and management of healthcare organizations. IT requirements emerge from the visions, values, and beliefs of…

Knowledge sharing visibility (KSV) is a critical environmental factor which can reduce social loafing in knowledge sharing (KS). This is especially true in ICT [information and communication technology]-based KS in learning organisations. As such, it is imperative that we better understand how to design technology enabled knowledge management…

In 1994 Orlikowski and Gash articulated Technological Frames of Reference as a systematic theoretical lens to examine technological developments in organisations. A decade later, in 2004, Davidson and Pai expressed concern that while the lens was widely cited in academic discourse, the incidence and adoption of the model as an analytical framework…

Full Text Available The case-study aims to examine the effectiveness of training of morphological structure on the spelling of compounds by a spelling-disabled primary school student. The experimental design of the intervention was based on the word-pair paradigm and included a pre-test, a training program and a post-test (n= 50 pairs. The Training Program aimed to offer systematic, targeted and step-by-step instruction of morphological decomposition of words to the student and delivered via the Smart Notebook educational software. The intervention had a substantial impact in enhancing the spelling of compounds by the individual. Especially, instructional gains were statistically significant, and generalized substantially to untrained but analogous words and pseudowords in terms of structure and common stems. These findings are particularly important for the development of alternative approaches to the educational interventions of individuals with spelling difficulties and developmental dyslexia, and are consistent with the experimental literature.

Full Text Available This paper presents the results and conclusions found when predicting the behavior of gamers in commercial videogames datasets. In particular, it uses Variable-Order Markov (VOM to build a probabilistic model that is able to use the historic behavior of gamers and to infer what will be their next actions. Being able to predict with accuracy the next user’s actions can be of special interest to learn from the behavior of gamers, to make them more engaged and to reduce churn rate. In order to support a big volume and velocity of data, the system is built on top of the Hadoop ecosystem, using HBase for real-time processing; and the prediction tool is provided as a service (SaaS and accessible through a RESTful API. The prediction system is evaluated using a case of study with two commercial videogames, attaining promising results with high prediction accuracies.

Full Text Available This study aims to identify the nonexistent network to the general system of data communication that currently has the GADM (Autonomous Government Decentralized Municipal of Babahoyo located in the province of Los Rios in order to develop a logical design of a metropolitan network that can support new technologies and protocols ensuring the information conveyed between branches of GADM of Babahoyo, besides providing the institution of a compatible platform with the requirements of the e-Government (eGovernment. This research allowed to collect information through instruments such as interviews, meetings and literature review also visits took place at the premises of GADM Babahoyo, reviewing aspects of securities in telecommunications under the ISO / IEC 27002: 2013 citing reference the control objective Management network security. Identiﬁcation, analysis and design of a proposed network infrastructure is made, allowing communication of the various units that are in distant places. It is concluded that the implementation of a system of networks throughout the municipal entity is considered a solution to the problem and generate many beneﬁts.

Based on the background of national food security,this paper analyzes the current situation of food production in Hubei Province that except food yields,overall production situation is not good. Through the food production,storage and circulation,this paper describes the role of food science and technology innovation in food security,and further points out the problems of food science and technology innovation system in Hubei Province,such as disconnection between food science and technology innovation research and food production as well as economic development,backward management system failing to adapt to the needs of agricultural transformation,and low conversion rate of food scientific and technological innovation. Based on this,this paper sets forth the recommendations for food security in Hubei Province.

Full Text Available Whereas batteries in comparison with most other means of energy storage are more environmentally friendly and economical in their operation, they are beset by low energy replenishment rates, low energy storage density, high capital cost of themselves, and high capital cost of energy replenishment infrastructures. Mainly based on ergonomics, this paper proposes a novel, low-cost alternative technology to practically and industrially make these weaknesses irrelevant to some extent without calling for revolutionary technological breakthroughs in material science, batteries’ microstructures, or battery manufacturing technologies. The technology takes advantage of modularization of battery systems, prioritization of charging and discharging of battery module(s according to ease of unloading and/or loading the battery module(s and/or ease of loading replacement battery module(s of the battery module(s.

Full Text Available This paper explores the use of Web 2.0 technologies for collaborative learning in a higher education context. A review of the literature exploring the strengths and weaknesses of Web 2.0 technology is presented, and a conceptual model of a Web 2.0 community of inquiry is introduced. Two Australian casestudies are described, with an ex-poste evaluation of the use of Web 2.0 tools. Conclusions are drawn as to the potential for the use of Web 2.0 tools for collaborative e-learning in higher education. In particular, design and integration of Web 2.0 tools should be closely related to curriculum intent and pedagogical requirements, care must be taken to provide clear guidance on both expected student activity and learning expectations, and there is a clear need to develop, support and encourage strong interaction both between teachers and students, and amongst the students themselves.

This research discusses the competitive advantages that commercial banks get from the usage of innovative technologies. The technological change and financial innovation that banking sphere has experienced during the past years is discussed in the first place. This thesis gives the understanding of such innovations as an online banking in the modern foreign banks and their possible application in Russia and influence on the competitive positions of banks on the Russian banking ...

enable Afghanistan to benefit further from Information and Communication Technologies by becoming part of the global information society while... information society . This meeting was named the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) and presented a forum for emerging technologies. In 2007 the...2Ibid. 3Ibid. 4International Telecommunications Union, “World Summit on The Information Society Forum 2009,” Brochure, May 2009. 32 5Global

With the rapid development of information technology, digital technology and e-commerce are playing an important role in the tourism industry, and modern information systems represent a major future direction for tourism development. Given this situation, the hotel industry in the 21st century is likely to undergo great change in the face of a common trend. Based on this trend, network marketing has become an important marketing tool for the hotel industry. Network marketing uses the Int...

With the rapid development of information technology, digital technology and e-commerce are playing an important role in the tourism industry, and modern information systems represent a major future direction for tourism development. Given this situation, the hotel industry in the 21st century is likely to undergo great change in the face of a common trend. Based on this trend, network marketing has become an important marketing tool for the hotel industry. Network marketing uses the Int...

Full Text Available The Emerging Technologies & Services department at Oregon State University Libraries & Press has implemented a training program for our technology student employees on how and why they should engage in Open Source community development. This article will outline what they've done to implement this program, discuss the benefits they've seen as a result of these changes, and will talk about what they viewed as necessary to build and promote a culture of engagement in open communities.

Full Text Available Today, organizations for holding and improving their competing merit use performance measurement for evaluation, control, supervision and improvement of their trading processes. Medium and small companies in technology and science parks are very useful in economic revivification and technology development. Technology and science parks have provided necessary consultations, information, suitable equipments, and services for developing technology unites and prepare them for independent presence in industry. One of the necessary elements for the success and improvement of performance in these companies is to establish and implement balanced scorecard, which can be used to reach desired goals, strategies and to improve performance. In this article, we use a structured method for calculating efficiency of four perspectives of balanced scorecard. Statistical society of this research was Semnan technology and Science Park and seven experts are selected for answering questions of the survey. We also complete questionnaire and determine index and relative importance of all indices. For developing strategic goals of Semnan technology and science park according to four perspectives of balanced score card (finance, growth and learning, internal process, six meetings were hold and finally all crisis macro goals index were identified and they were analyzed for evaluating performance.

This chapter describes the history of casestudy teaching, types of cases, and experimental data supporting their effectiveness. It also describes a model for comparing the efficacy of the various casestudy methods. (Contains 1 figure.)

This chapter describes the history of casestudy teaching, types of cases, and experimental data supporting their effectiveness. It also describes a model for comparing the efficacy of the various casestudy methods. (Contains 1 figure.)

This study used a multiple response model (MRM) on selected items from the Views on Science-Technology-Society (VOSTS) survey to examine science-technology-society (STS) literacy among college non-science majors' taught using Problem/CaseStudies Based Learning (PBL/CSBL) and traditional expository methods of instruction. An initial pilot investigation of 15 VOSTS items produced a valid and reliable scoring model which can be used to quantitatively assess student literacy on a variety of STS topics deemed important for informed civic engagement in science related social and environmental issues. The new scoring model allows for the use of parametric inferential statistics to test hypotheses about factors influencing STS literacy. The follow-up cross-institutional study comparing teaching methods employed Hierarchical Linear Modeling (HLM) to model the efficiency and equitability of instructional methods on STS literacy. A cluster analysis was also used to compare pre and post course patterns of student views on the set of positions expressed within VOSTS items. HLM analysis revealed significantly higher instructional efficiency in the PBL/CSBL study group for 4 of the 35 STS attitude indices (characterization of media vs. school science; tentativeness of scientific models; cultural influences on scientific research), and more equitable effects of traditional instruction on one attitude index (interdependence of science and technology). Cluster analysis revealed generally stable patterns of pre to post course views across study groups, but also revealed possible teaching method effects on the relationship between the views expressed within VOSTS items with respect to (1) interdependency of science and technology; (2) anti-technology; (3) socioscientific decision-making; (4) scientific/technological solutions to environmental problems; (5) usefulness of school vs. media characterizations of science; (6) social constructivist vs. objectivist views of theories; (7

Geosciences modelling and seismic interpretation methods were used to determine shear failure and pore pressure predictions from offset wells and seismic interval velocities. The aim of the study was to predict a safe range of mud weights for minimizing the horizontal stresses associated with drilling shale gas exploratory wells. The customized tool computed pore pressure, shear failure, fracture gradient and overburden gradients which were then calibrated with drilling data obtained from leak offset tests, formation integrity tests, and various other drilling parameters. Gamma rays were imported into the tool's dataset and a shale base line was selected based on the lithology and volume of shale. The shale base line was then transformed into a compaction trend line. Bower's sonic, Miller's sonic, and semi-log resistivity equations were used to predict normal compaction trend lines (NCTLs). The shear failure gradient was calculated and rock strength parameters were determined by characterizing the friction angle and cohesive strength of the formations. Casestudies of wells drilled by Talisman were presented to validate the methods. 11 refs., 3 tabs., 15 figs.

Full Text Available Social networking and network socialization provide abundant text information and social relationships into our daily lives. Making full use of these data in the big data era is of great significance for us to better understand the changing world and the information-based society. Though politics have been integrally involved in the hyperlinked world issues since the 1990s, the text analysis and data visualization of geo-events faced the bottleneck of traditional manual analysis. Though automatic assembly of different geospatial web and distributed geospatial information systems utilizing service chaining have been explored and built recently, the data mining and information collection are not comprehensive enough because of the sensibility, complexity, relativity, timeliness, and unexpected characteristics of political events. Based on the framework of Heritrix and the analysis of web-based text, word frequency, sentiment tendency, and dissemination path of the Huangyan Island incident were studied by using web crawler technology and the text analysis. The results indicate that tag cloud, frequency map, attitudes pie, individual mention ratios, and dissemination flow graph, based on the crawled information and data processing not only highlight the characteristics of geo-event itself, but also implicate many interesting phenomenon and deep-seated problems behind it, such as related topics, theme vocabularies, subject contents, hot countries, event bodies, opinion leaders, high-frequency vocabularies, information sources, semantic structure, propagation paths, distribution of different attitudes, and regional difference of net citizens’ response in the Huangyan Island incident. Furthermore, the text analysis of network information with the help of focused web crawler is able to express the time-space relationship of crawled information and the information characteristic of semantic network to the geo-events. Therefore, it is a useful tool to

The aim of this casestudy was to describe two District Nurses' (DN) experiences of using information and communication technology (ICT) to communicate with chronically ill people in their homes. An electronic messaging program via computers and mobile phones with an Internet connection was used, enabling DNs and the ill people to exchange messages to and from anywhere. The program comprised different virtual rooms, and communication was via text messages. The DNs in this study used the program two to four times each week from November 2003 to March 2004. Semi-structured interviews were performed before, during and after the implementation of the new technology and were analysed using thematic content analysis. The results showed that the DNs felt that the technology increased accessibility to nursing care through a more direct communication with the ill person meaning that a more trusting relationship could be created. The DNs also experienced that the use of ICT saved working time. This study indicates that the use of ICT for communication allowed the DN to better support a chronically ill person at home leading to improved home nursing care. This method of communication cannot replace physical presence, but can be seen as a complement to nursing care at home.

Older adults benefit from unstructured, lifestyle-based activity that can be carried out in people's houses, neighbourhoods, and the built environment. Technological solutions may support physical activity and encourage wellbeing. To ensure such technology is suitable for, and usable by, older adults, it is crucial they are involved in all stages of design. Participatory design methodologies facilitate collaboration and engagement with potential users. We examine the suitability of participatory design for collaborating and engaging with older adults. Participatory design workshops were conducted with 33 older adults in the UK with the aim of designing mobile applications to support and promote physical activity and wellbeing in the built environment. As well as summarising the outcome of these workshops, the paper outlines several methodological issues relating to the suitability of participatory design for involving older adults in the technology design process.

We review strategic approaches taken over an eight-year period at BMS to implement new high-throughput approaches to lead discovery. Investments in compound management infrastructure and chemistry library production capability allowed significant growth in the size, diversity and quality of the BMS compound collection. Screening platforms were upgraded with robust automated technology to support miniaturized assay formats, while workflows and information handling technologies were streamlined for improved performance. These technology changes drove the need for a supporting organization in which critical engineering, informatics and scientific skills were more strongly represented. Taken together, these investments led to significant improvements in speed and productivity as well a greater impact of screening campaigns on the initiation of new drug discovery programs.

M.Comm. In the last hundred years there has been a technological revolution that has forced people to change the way they live and run their organisations. This technological revolution has had a major impact on the business world. Coyle, Bardi and Langley (2003; 57) have suggested that “the rate of change has accelerated with consequent negative impacts if organisations do not change.” With today’s emphasis on cutting costs, streamlining expenses while at the same time trying to offer a c...

Technologies for odour control have been widely reviewed and their optimal range of application and performance has been clearly established. Selection criteria, mainly driven by process economics, are usually based on the air flow volume, the inlet concentrations and the required removal efficiency. However, these criteria are shifting with social and environmental issues becoming as important as process economics. A methodology is illustrated to quantify sustainability and robustness of odour control technology in the context of odour control at wastewater treatment or water recycling plants. The most commonly used odour abatement techniques (biofiltration, biotrickling filtration, activated carbon adsorption, chemical scrubbing, activated sludge diffusion and biotrickling filtration coupled with activated carbon adsorption) are evaluated in terms of: (1) sustainability, with quantification of process economics, environmental performance and social impact using the sustainability metrics of the Institution of Chemical Engineers; (2) sensitivity towards design and operating parameters like utility prices (energy and labour), inlet odour concentration (H2S) and design safety (gas contact time); (3) robustness, quantifications of operating reliability, with recommendations to improve reliability during their lifespan of operations. The results show that the odour treatment technologies with the highest investments presented the lowest operating costs, which means that the net present value (NPV) should be used as a selection criterion rather than investment costs. Economies of scale are more important in biotechniques (biofiltration and biotrickling filtration) as, at increased airflows, their reduction in overall costs over 20 years (NPV20) is more extreme when compared to the physical/chemical technologies (chemical scrubbing and activated carbon filtration). Due to their low NPV and their low environmental impact, activated sludge diffusion and biotrickling

We give an overview and definition of Web 2.0 and Library 2.0 technology, especially addressing how it changes access to collections for users. We also describe its unlimited possibilities. The various components of Library 2.0 viz blogs, wikis, RSS, instant messaging, social networking, podcasting, and tagging are briefly summarized. Initiatives at three special information centers and libraries (IUCAA — Astronomy and Astrophysics; IIT — Science and Technology; and NIV — Viral Diseases) are described. We conclude with a futuristic view of Library 2.0.

The eXtensible markup language (XML) is a metalanguage which is useful to represent and exchange data between heterogeneous systems. XML may enable healthcare practitioners to document, monitor, evaluate, and archive medical information and services into distributed computer environments. Therefore, the most recent proposals on electronic health records (EHRs) are usually based on XML documents. Since none of the existing nomenclatures were specifically developed for use in automated clinical information systems, but were adapted to such use, numerous current EHRs are organized as a sequence of events, each represented through codes taken from international classification systems. In nursing, a hierarchically organized problem-solving approach is followed, which hardly couples with the sequential organization of such EHRs. Therefore, the paper presents an XML data model for the Omaha System taxonomy, which is one of the most important international nomenclatures used in the home healthcare nursing context. Such a data model represents the formal definition of EHRs specifically developed for nursing practice. Furthermore, the paper delineates a Java application prototype which is able to manage such documents, shows the possibility to transform such documents into readable web pages, and reports several casestudies, one currently managed by the home care service of a Health Center in Central Italy.

A new edition of the most popular book of project management casestudies, expanded to include more than 100 cases plus a ""super case"" on the Iridium Project Casestudies are an important part of project management education and training. This Fourth Edition of Harold Kerzner''s Project Management CaseStudies features a number of new cases covering value measurement in project management. Also included is the well-received ""super case,"" which covers all aspects of project management and may be used as a capstone for a course. This new edition:Contains 100-plus casestudies drawn from re

Up to nowadays, satellite data have become increasingly available, thus offering a low cost or even free of charge unique tool, with a great potential for operational monitoring of vegetation cover, quantitative assessment of urban expansion and urban sprawl, as well as for monitoring of land use changes and soil consumption. This growing observational capacity has also highlighted the need for research efforts aimed at exploring the potential offered by data processing methods and algorithms, in order to exploit as much as possible this invaluable space-based data source. The work herein presented concerns an application study on the monitoring of vegetation cover and urban sprawl conducted with the use of satellite Landsat TM data. The selected test site is the Iguazu park highly significant, being it one of the most threatened global conservation priorities (http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/303/). In order to produce synthetic maps of the investigated areas to monitor the status of vegetation and ongoing subtle changes, satellite Landsat TM data images were classified using two automatic classifiers, Maximum Likelihood (MLC) and Support Vector Machines (SVMs) applied by changing setting parameters, with the aim to compare their respective performances in terms of robustness, speed and accuracy. All process steps have been developed integrating Geographical Information System and Remote Sensing, and adopting free and open source software. Results pointed out that the SVM classifier with RBF kernel was generally the best choice (with accuracy higher than 90%) among all the configurations compared, and the use of multiple bands globally improves classification. One of the critical elements found in the case of monitoring of urban area expansion is given by the presence of urban garden mixed with urban fabric. The use of different configurations for the SVMs, i.e. different kernels and values of the setting parameters, allowed us to calibrate the classifier also to

Describes Cyclops, an advanced electronic audiovisual system which uses microprocessor technology to convert a video signal into an audio signal for transmission by telephone, radio, or stereo-audio cassettes. Students need a 'black-box' to decode the signal for display on a standard television screen. Problems encountered in implementing this…

Genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics and fluxomics are powerful omics-technologies that play a major role in today’s research. For each of these techniques good sample quality is crucial. Major factors contributing to the quality of a sample is the actual sampling procedure itself and the way th...

The Taoge water system is located in the upstream of Taihu Lake basin and is characterized by its multi-connected rivers and lakes. In this paper, current analyses of hydrology, hydrodynamics and water pollution of Gehu Lake and Taige Canal are presented. Several technologies are proposed for pollution prevention and control, and water environmental protection in the Taihu Lake basin. These included water pollution control integration technology for the water systems of Gehu Lake, Taige Canal and Caoqiao River. Additionally, river-lake water quality and quantity regulation technology, ecological restoration technology for polluted and degraded water bodies, and water environmental integration management and optimization strategies were also examined. The main objectives of these strategies are to: (a) improve environmental quality of relative water bodies, prevent pollutants from entering Gehu Lake and Taige Canal, and ensure that the clean water after the pre-treatment through Gehu Lake is not polluted before entering the Taihu Lake through Taige Canal; (b) stably and efficiently intercept and decrease the pollution load entering the lake through enhancing the river outlet ecological system structure function and water self-purifying capacity, and (c) designate Gehu Lake as a regulation system for water quality and water quantity in the Taoge water system and thus guarantee the improvement of the water quality of the inflow into Taihu Lake.

This report demonstrates how one predominantly low-income school district dramatically improved student engagement in the classroom and increased high school graduation rates through project-based learning (PBL) and the effective use of technology. The report, which includes short video segments with educators and students, focuses on Talladega…

When one walks into the classrooms at New Technology High School (NTHS) in Napa, California, he or she will see that students there are always at work: writing journals online, doing research on the Internet, meeting in groups to plan and make their Web sites and their digital media presentations, and evaluating their peers for collaboration and…

Developing countries face many obstacles in the process of implementing inclusive education (IE). Effective use of assistive technologies (AT) can help governments in developing countries achieve inclusive education by helping children with disabilities in schools. Despite the importance and positive impact of AT, prior research on the use of AT…

The paper discusses how Information and Communication Technology (ICT) could be integrated in the teaching of English Language in Botswana Junior Secondary Schools. It does so by exploring opportunities and challenges faced by teachers of English Language and the students they teach. Fifty five (55) teachers in eleven (11) Junior Secondary Schools…

The Institute of Public Administration (IPA), in Saudi Arabia, is a well renowned training institution designated for training civil servants in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. This paper mainly discusses the uses of technologies in the administrative aspects of the IPA. The author also points out the obstacles faced and lessons learned from the…

In the late 1980s, the Eastman Kodak company initiated what would become one of the biggest trends in information technology (IT): outsourcing. IT outsourcing (ITO) allows a company to focus on the services that will differentiate it from its competitors and farm out nondifferentiating services. ITO has grown from the initial landmark effort at…

In the late 1980s, the Eastman Kodak company initiated what would become one of the biggest trends in information technology (IT): outsourcing. IT outsourcing (ITO) allows a company to focus on the services that will differentiate it from its competitors and farm out nondifferentiating services. ITO has grown from the initial landmark effort at…

Biomass facilities have received increasing attention as a strategy to increase the use of renewable fuels and decrease greenhouse gas emissions from the electric generation and heating sectors, but these facilities can potentially increase local air pollution and associated health effects. Comparing the economic costs and public health benefits of alternative biomass fuel, heating technology, and pollution control technology options provides decision-makers with the necessary information to make optimal choices in a given location. For a casestudy of a combined heat and power biomass facility in Syracuse, New York, we used stack testing to estimate emissions of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) for both the deployed technology (staged combustion pellet boiler with an electrostatic precipitator) and a conventional alternative (wood chip stoker boiler with a multicyclone). We used the atmospheric dispersion model AERMOD to calculate the contribution of either fuel-technology configuration to ambient primary PM2.5 in a 10km×10km region surrounding the facility, and we quantified the incremental contribution to population mortality and morbidity. We assigned economic values to health outcomes and compared the health benefits of the lower-emitting technology with the incremental costs. In total, the incremental annualized cost of the lower-emitting pellet boiler was $190,000 greater, driven by a greater cost of the pellet fuel and pollution control technology, offset in part by reduced fuel storage costs. PM2.5 emissions were a factor of 23 lower with the pellet boiler with electrostatic precipitator, with corresponding differences in contributions to ambient primary PM2.5 concentrations. The monetary value of the public health benefits of selecting the pellet-fired boiler technology with electrostatic precipitator was $1.7 million annually, greatly exceeding the differential costs even when accounting for uncertainties. Our analyses also showed complex spatial

Full Text Available Information technology is a necessity for all modern businesses and can become a major competitive advantage, as their use is aligned with the business strategy of the company. Modern technologies of information and communication can help to improve the quality of various business aspects. For demonstrating this issue, bibliographic, exploratory and descriptive research on the subject was made, and also a casestudy on IT management in the company ZapShop Informática located in the city of Dom Pedrito / RS where it was possible to assess the evolution of the organization and its changes through graphics indicators in a more accurately way. The aim of this study was to carry on theoretical studies on the subject to deepen knowledge in the area, exposing the importance of IT as a support tool in the decision process, perform qualitative and quantitative analysis on the company indicators and demonstrate the results achieved by the company from the implementation of an Information System. According to the study, it’s possible to see that IT can be side by side with the management of organizations, because it provides information for the decision making and strategic business management, automates routine tasks, assists the internal and external control of processes, enhances the ability to recognize a problem in advance and breaking barriers of time and location, for example. It is also observed that prior to the purchase of equipment with advanced technology, we must invest in the company's employees, developing their skills and integrating them fully to the work process, delivering training and education on new technologies in the organization process.

Social technology is proliferating and influencing different aspects of society. However, very few studies have examined the use of such a technology for a case-based learning pedagogy. This preliminary study investigates the use of social technology as a case-based learning tool to improve the effectiveness of case-based learning in the…

In this paper, we review the key solutions that enabled evolution of the lead optimization screening support process at Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) between 2004 and 2009. During this time, technology infrastructure investment and scientific expertise integration laid the foundations to build and tailor lead optimization screening support models across all therapeutic groups at BMS. Together, harnessing advanced screening technology platforms and expanding panel screening strategy led to a paradigm shift at BMS in supporting lead optimization screening capability. Parallel SAR and structure liability relationship (SLR) screening approaches were first and broadly introduced to empower more-rapid and -informed decisions about chemical synthesis strategy and to broaden options for identifying high-quality drug candidates during lead optimization.

The large size of the Japanese IT market makes it attractive to and important for foreign high technology companies. However, the Japanese market is very challenging, highly competitive, and difficult to penetrate for foreign small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Most SMEs fail to penetrate into the Japanese market effectively by using modern IT-tools in the international subsidiary establishment process. No earlier in-depth empirical research exists on the IT-sup...

I.IntroductionIn this highly competitive information age,the telecommunications infrastructure isthe nerve center of every country. Among the numerous telecommunications policiesworld-wide,universal service policy is a useful means to gauge the effectiveness of anygiven country’s response to rapidly changing global conditions and its own social,economic,political,and technological conditions.Modem universal service refers to the

There is a growing emphasis on the research-teaching nexus, and there are many innovative ways to incorporate research materials and methods in undergraduate teaching. Solar Physics is a cross-disciplinary subject and offers the ideal opportunity for research-enhanced teaching (1). In this presentation, I outline i) how student-led teaching of research content and methods is introduced in an undergraduate module in Solar Physics, and ii) how electronic learning and teaching can be used to improve students' learning of mathematical concepts in Solar Physics. More specifically, I discuss how research literature reviewing and reporting methods can be embedded and developed systematically throughout the module with aligned assessments. Electronic feedback and feedforward (2) are given to the students in order to enhance their understanding of the subject and improve their research skills. Other technology-enhanced teaching approaches (3) are used to support students' learning of the more quantitative components of the module. This casestudy is particularly relevant to a wide range of pedagogical contexts (4) as the Solar Physics module is taught to students following undergraduate programs in Geology, Earth Sciences, Environmental Geology as well as Planetary Science with Astronomy in the host Department. Related references: (1) Tong, C. H., Let interdisciplinary research begin in undergraduate years, Nature (2010) v. 463, p. 157. (2) Tong, V. C. H., Linking summative assessments? Electronic feedback and feedforward in module design, British Journal of Educational Technology (2011), accepted for publication. (3) Tong, V. C. H., Using asynchronous electronic surveys to help in-class revision: A casestudy, British Journal of Educational Technology (2011), doi:10.1111/j.1467-8535.2011.01207.x (4) Tong, V. C. H. (ed.), Geoscience Research and Education, Springer, Dordrecht (2012)

and imprinted in the minds of the public thanks to the support of speed painting and visual scribing, which made it more understandable, interesting and direct. 2. Edutainment activities. Two games have been build up for children aged between 7 and 13 years as a part of the European Researchers' Night activities (2011 and 2014-2015): a great board game with questions and drawings related to marine ecology and environmental protection and a memory game through which children can learn notions on Earthquakes, Volcanoes and Environment. Children's learning is facilitated if bound by game, and in this case images are more direct than words. 3. Surveys. A graphic questionnaire has been created in order to understand science perception and/or stereotypes in children who do not yet know how to read and write. In all these cases the relationship between researchers and artists has been extremely constructive and fruitful: researchers had to simplify their object of study in order to be able to disclose concepts that have been then translated into a simple and easy language.

Full Text Available The majority of Ethiopia’s people (85% reside in rural areas, deriving their livelihood from agriculture. Ethiopia’s energy system is characterized mainly by biomass fuel supply, with households being the greatest energy consumers. The household sector takes up nearly 94 % of the total energy supplies. Access to energy resources and technologies in rural Ethiopia is highly constrained which makes the energy supply and consumption pattern of the country to show many elements of un-sustainability. The concern on cooking practices, household economics, health, forest and agricultural resource management, and global greenhouse gas emissions has emerged as a transformative opportunity to improve individual lives, livelihoods, and the global environment. More decentralized renewable energy projects could play an important role in mitigating traditional biomass fuel use. Improved cooking stove (ICS dissemination projects have been launched involving the private sector in the production and commercialization of the stoves. In doing so, about 3.7 million ICSs have been disseminated in the country so far which benefited stove users, producers and the total environment as about 30 million hectare of forest per year can be conserved. Conversion of animal waste to biogas energy to replace traditional fuel and use of the slurry as a fertilizer is the other current focus of the government of Ethiopia and installed more than 860 biogas digesters. The benefits obtained from these technologies are considerable and promising. However, the programs are not that much benefited the rural households where it had been intended to address. So, due attention should be given for those of the rural households in order to address the fuel wood crisis, environmental degradation and their health condition.

Full Text Available Peripheral, disaster and polluted rural areas (PDP rural areas are generally perceived as a “Cinderella” of water public policy measures, deepening the rural-urban cleavage in terms of opportunities for a decent life. The main goal of the study is to develop public policy options regarding the supply of safe drinking water in Romanian PDP rural areas. The main instrument to achieve it is an ex-ante policy analysis of three solutions: a conventional technology, based on chlorine, a green technology using an advanced oxidation process with bio-filter (O3BioFilter, and “do nothing”. Environment protection, social equity, technical performance, economic efficiency and political feasibility were the criteria selected for analysis, within a focus-group. Several qualitative and quantitative methods were used: evaluation matrix, weighted cost-effectiveness and break-even point. The results of the first two indicate that the O3BioFilter has the best score, but not much higher than the conventional alternative (10% higher, revealing a possible path-dependency to familiar technologies. This analysis is not a ready-made solution valid in any case, nor a direct indication of “the best choice”, but a decision tool in the adoption and implementation of sustainable water public policies.

This article presents a case of co-designed temporary learning spaces at a Finnish academic library, together with the results of a user-survey. The experimental development of the multifunctional spaces offered an opportunity for the library to collaborate with its parent organisation thus broadening the role of the library. Hence, library can be…

This article presents a case of co-designed temporary learning spaces at a Finnish academic library, together with the results of a user-survey. The experimental development of the multifunctional spaces offered an opportunity for the library to collaborate with its parent organisation thus broadening the role of the library. Hence, library can be…

This paper reports on integrated watershed-based protection and sustainable use of water resources to increase the effectiveness of water pollution abatement. The approach includes improvements in end-of-pipe waste-water treatment technologies and implementation of Cleaner Production (CP) principles and policies within the watershed. An example of the general effectiveness of this approach is illustrated by the Czech Odra River Cleaner Production Project where reductions in pollution were achieved with improved industrial production. The CP theme is worth considering as an important challenge for the IWA.

Full Text Available Alignment between the participants in any process allows for effective and sustainable utilisation of resources. When alignment lacks, resources are diverted to address issues that are peripheral to the central issue at hand.'Ideally, all resources should be used for the main purpose of the exercise and not to deal with unnecessary problems. To illustrate the use of this alignment technology, it was applied to optimise both the participation of and benefit to the contributors at the Southern African Wildlife College (SAWC as part of an academic course module. The alignment process ensures that each student becomes aware of his/her importance in the process and investigates the expectations of all the role players. The scene is set for answering Four Magic Questions (4MQ and functions are developed for achieving the required outcomes. In order to stabilise the alignment, values management technology is used which enables the students to recognise and begin to deal with differing management styles.

This casestudy is one in a series on industrial firms who are implementing energy efficient technologies and system improvements into their manufacturing processes. This casestudy documents the activities, savings, and lessons learned on the Bodine Electric motor assembly plant project.

The Slovenian healthcare business model (BM) has largely failed to integrate information and communication technologies (ICT) into its operational context, instead maintaining its rigid structure and traditional 'way of doing business'wo managers of public clinics). Findings present a roadmap for the redefinition of BM elements and the transformation of the Slovenian healthcare BM. It includes the specific reconfiguration of BM actors and their interactions, and the application of advanced ICT solutions, which could facilitate more effective utilisation of healthcare resources and promote an improved delivery of healthcare services and products. The presented development approach and derived conceptual solution could be transferable to other countries with similar socio-economic characteristics and comparable healthcare systems, subject to certain adjustments and inclusion of national specifics.

Full Text Available This study investigates organizational structure, culture, and information technology as knowledge management (KM infrastructural capabilities, and compares their significance and status quo in five medical research centers in Tehran, Iran. Objectives of this research were pursued by employing two statistical methods, regression analysis and Friedman test. Included in the study were 135 people (researchers and support staff from five medical and healthcare research centers of Tehran. A survey questionnaire including 23 questions was utilized to examine organizational structure, culture and information technology indicators. And another 12 questions examined KM effectiveness. The Friedman test indicated that in terms of their status quo, the three studied KM enablers are at different conditions, with organizational culture having the best (mean rank=1.79 and IT the worst (mean rank=2.14 status. Moreover, it was revealed by regression analysis that organizational structure is believed to have the most significant impact (Beta= 0.397 on the effectiveness of knowledge management initiatives, while information technology gained the least perceived impact (Beta= 0.176.

This article describes casestudy research for nursing and healthcare practice. Casestudy research offers the researcher an approach by which a phenomenon can be investigated from multiple perspectives within a bounded context, allowing the researcher to provide a 'thick' description of the phenomenon. Although casestudy research is a flexible approach for the investigation of complex nursing and healthcare issues, it has methodological challenges, often associated with the multiple methods used in individual studies. These are explored through examples of casestudy research carried out in practice and education settings. An overview of what constitutes 'good' casestudy research is proposed.

Full Text Available Supply chain management has become a critical issue in the global collaboration scenario. Suppliers are not expected to provide just commodities or pre-defined components, but also collaborative engineering design solutions within the product development cycle. Thus, the selection criteria for defining supply partner go beyond the production and logistic capabilities, but must also include technical and engineering competence. This, in some sense, can be considered a common scenario of big companies, but is still challenging when dealing with SME´s. This work discusses how SME´s can be included in a supply chains taking in consideration a set of parameters to assess their technical competence related to product development collaboration. A set of eight parameters has been proposed to assess the engineering team competence, physical and technological structure and further legal responsibility. For each parameter values and weights were defined also. The assessment was applied to three companies that are suppliers of a buses and coaches manufacturer from Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. The results show that even when dealing with objective parameters, the suppliers and costumer can have different perceptions about same issues.

It is very difficult to clearly detect the location of a burning area in a coal mine since it is hidden underground.So we conducted research on the distribution of the burning area before controlling it.Firstly,the original drilling technique was used to analyze and determine the loose and scope of caving of burning area through field test,and then obtained the gases and the temperature data in this area were according to the borehole data.By analyzing these data,we found out that the location of burning area concentrated in the loose and caving area; and finally,the location and development of the burning area within the tested area were accurately determined.Based on this theory,we used the ground penetrating radar (GPR) to find out the loose and caving scale in the burning area during the control process of the burning area,and then located the fire-extinguishing boreholes within target which we used to control burning fire in the section.A mobile comprehensive fire prevention and extinguishing system based on the three-phase foam fire prevention and control technique was then adopted and conducted in the burning area which took only 9 months to extinguish the 227,000 m2 of burning area of 9# coal.This control technology and experience will provide a very important reference to the control of other coalfield fire and hillock fire in the future.

Modal testing is widely used today as a means of validating theoretical (Finite Element) models for the dynamic analysis of engineering structures, prior to these models being used for optimisation of product design. Current model validation methodology is confined to linear models and is primarily concerned with (i) correcting inaccurate model parameters and (ii) ensuring that sufficient elements are included for these cases, using measured data. Basic experience is that this works quite well, largely because the weaknesses in the models are relatively sparse and, as a result, are usually identifiable and correctable. The current state-of-the-art in linear model validation has contributed to an awareness that residual errors in FE models are increasingly the consequence of some unrepresented nonlinearity in the structure. In these cases, additional, higher order parameters are required to improve the model so that it can represent the nonlinear behaviour. This is opposed to the current practice of simply refining the mesh. Again, these nonlinear features are generally localised, and are often associated with joints. We seek to provide a procedure for extending existing modal testing to enable these nonlinear elements to be addressed using current nonlinear identification methods directed at detection, characterisation, location and then quantification - in order to enhance the elements in an FE model as necessary to describe nonlinear dynamic behaviour. Emphasis is placed on the outcome of these extended methods to relate specifically to the physical behaviour of the relevant components of the structure, rather than to the nonlinear response characteristics that are the result of their presence.

Electronic waste (e-waste) management is pressing as global production has increased significantly in the past few years and is rising continuously at a fast rate. Many countries are facing hazardous e-waste mountains, most of which are disposed of by backyard recyclers, creating serious threats to public health and ecosystems. Industrialization of state-of-the-art recycling technologies is imperative to enhance the comprehensive utilization of resources and to protect the environment. This article aims to provide an overview of management strategies solving the crucial problems during the process of industrialization. A typical casestudy of electrostatic separation for recycling waste printed circuit boards was discussed in terms of parameters optimization, materials flow control, noise assessment, risk assessment, economic evaluation and social benefits analysis. The comprehensive view provided by the review could be helpful to the progress of the e-waste recycling industry.

Hydrocarbon containing soil was bioremediated at a combination wastewater and slop oil skim evaporation pond utilizing cost effective low technology resources. Fluids and sludge from the football field-sized pond were extraction procedure toxicity and purgeable organics tested, and total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) concentrations determined. An impact risk analysis was performed, and a corrective action plan developed and implemented. The three year project was closely coordinated with the Kansas Corporation Commission (KCC) and the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) who established the closure level. The impacted soils at the pond were completely excavated and closure was immediately granted by KDHE for the excavated area. The 24,000 cubic yards of excavated soil were then surface spread on adjacent Mobil property. A nutrient and microbial base was applied to bioaugment the soil. The preapplication land surface and the subsequently land farmed soil was periodically disced and chiseled. A job safety plan including industrial hygiene measures to eliminate workforce exposure was developed and implemented. The final remediation cost analysis amounts to $1.48 per cubic yard compared to the $30 to $150 per cubic yard industry o estimates for similar projects. Several factors were critical in ailing costs to remain so low: (1) assessment and implementation by local in-house staff, (2) conservative remedial action plan and sampling strategy; (3) local contractors; (4) locally available soil amendment; and (5) effective regulatory coordination. The methods described can be used to cost effectively characterize and bioremediate other sites where hydrocarbon-impacted soils exist in similar dry-land environments.

Aquifer storage, transfer and recovery (ASTR) may be an efficient low cost water supply technology for rural coastal communities that experience seasonal freshwater scarcity. The feasibility of ASTR as a water supply alternative is being evaluated in communities in south-western Bangladesh where the shallow aquifers are naturally brackish and severe seasonal freshwater scarcity is compounded by frequent extreme weather events. A numerical variable-density groundwater model, first evaluated against data from an existing community-scale ASTR system, was applied to identify the influence of hydrogeological as well as design and operational parameters on system performance. For community-scale systems, it is a delicate balance to achieve acceptable water quality at the extraction well whilst maintaining a high recovery efficiency (RE) as dispersive mixing can dominate relative to the small size of the injected freshwater plume. For the existing ASTR system configuration used in Bangladesh where the injection head is controlled and the extraction rate is set based on the community water demand, larger aquifer hydraulic conductivity, aquifer depth and injection head improve the water quality (lower total dissolved solids concentration) in the extracted water because of higher injection rates, but the RE is reduced. To support future ASTR system design in similar coastal settings, an improved system configuration was determined and relevant non-dimensional design criteria were identified. Analyses showed that four injection wells distributed around a central single extraction well leads to high RE provided the distance between the injection wells and extraction well is less than half the theoretical radius of the injected freshwater plume. The theoretical plume radius relative to the aquifer dispersivity is also an important design consideration to ensure adequate system performance. The results presented provide valuable insights into the feasibility and design

Full Text Available Shipping in Arctic seas is challenging and poses an environmental risk. This paper presents a fictional case involving a multipurpose supply vessel transporting one large object (a 750-tonne compressor and 24 containers loaded with chemicals and equipment for use by the petroleum industry in western Siberia. With technical details representative of vessels navigating the Arctic today, the fictitious ship Oleum has an ice class sufficient for navigating unaccompanied in the Barents and Kara seas, so no assistance is in range when, in late October, clogged fuel filters cause engine failure and the vessel eventually drifts ashore. Heeling over, Oleum loses both cargo and marine diesel oil. The scenario includes a successful helicopter rescue of the 16 crewmembers and a partial recovery of oil and chemicals by booms and skimmers. Recovery of chemicals with physical properties not allowing mechanical collection is not attempted. The scenario ends as the abandoned wreck is broken down at the stranding location, and containers rupture and discharge their cargo. The scenario postulates a moderate and short-lived environmental impact. The most visible effects of the grounding are the hull itself, the compressor and the spreading effects and degradation of oil and chemicals unmanageable for the clean-up operations.

Full Text Available Water supply systems (WWSs are one of the main manmade water infrastructures presenting potential for micro-hydropower. Within urban networks, local decentralized micro-hydropower plants (MHPs may be inserted in the regional electricity grid or used for self-consumption at the local grid level. Nevertheless, such networks are complex and the quantification of the potential for micro-hydropower other than that achieved by replacing pressure reducing valves (PRVs is difficult. In this work, a methodology to quantify the potential for hydropower based on the excess energy in a network is proposed and applied to a real case. A constructive solution is presented based on the use of a novel micro-turbine for energy conversion, the five blade tubular propeller (5BTP. The location of the MHP within the network is defined with an optimization algorithm that maximizes the net present value after 20 years of operation. These concepts are tested for the WSS in the city of Fribourg, Switzerland. The proposed solution captures 10% of the city’s energy potential and represents an economic interest. The results confirm the location of PRVs as potential sites for energy recovery and stress the need for careful sensitivity analysis of the consumption. Finally, an expedited method is derived to estimate the costs and energy that one 5BTP can produce in a given network.

Full Text Available In a city with a population of 298.928 inhabitants (January 2009, about 278.7 km of road (without the northern ring road and a road density of 3.1 km/km2, identifying the optimal routes for moving vehicles is a necessary operation under the temporary removal of use (28 months, from March 2011 of some street sectors in the downtown area, which is currently the subject of an infrastructure modernization work, in order to streamline the cars traffic.The optimal routes were identified using Network Analyst extension of ArcGIS Desktop 9.2 software, which calculated the shortest paths between a point of departure and an arrival one, using distance as impedance. In this case the points between which it was intended to identify the shortest routes were selected taking into account the fact that much of the Craiova’s population located in the north – western neighborhoods, faces traffic problems while they are moving toward the center of city. Therefore, this material is intended to be a support, resulted in some maps, in order to identity and choose the best travel route.